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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29518812">Aranar</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DauntingSagas/pseuds/DauntingSagas'>DauntingSagas</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Aliit ori'shya tal'din [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Lots of Cursing, Touch-Starved Din Djarin, Touch-Starved Original Female Character, rated E to be safe, still idiots but idiots together now</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-05-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 16:35:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>36,164</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29518812</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DauntingSagas/pseuds/DauntingSagas</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Din Djarin and Aili Verdella are still searching the galaxy for the Child's kind, not an easy task when they don't have any clue where to even start. A clan of seven, separated by this mission and unbeknownst to them someone out in the galaxy is looking for them as well. Or are they looking for just one in particular...</p><p>Sequel to Cabur</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Din Djarin &amp; Grogu | Baby Yoda, Din Djarin/Original Female Character(s), Grogu | Baby Yoda &amp; Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Aliit ori'shya tal'din [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065905</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>140</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>65</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Aranar translates to "Defend" which I thought was fitting since Cabur was "guardian/protector"</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“We’ve gone to some seedy places but this is by far the seediest,” Aili said, keeping her voice low so as to not attract unwanted attention. It didn’t matter though, travelling with a Mandalorian meant there would always be people staring at them. Sizing them up. Appraising the value of Din’s armor. Seeing her cuirass and adding it all up again. It was the same on every planet they went to nowadays. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s our best lead at the moment,” Din said just as quietly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know but that doesn’t make it any less seedy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She couldn’t even remember the name of the planet that Din had landed the Crest on, only that it was more industrial than the other planets they had been going to. All of their names were beginning to blend together anyway with each one they went to. Every building on this one though was covered in graffiti overlapped with more graffiti to the point that it was hard to tell what the original color of the buildings ever were. But Din was right, it was their best lead, every other one they had had only led to dead ends, close calls, and long nights for the both of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they walked down the street lamp-lit path with Little Green’s pram following beside them, in the dark shadows past where the light could reach there were bright red eyes looking back at them. Aili didn’t really want to know what the creatures were. Anything that shied away from light of any kind could not be something she ever wanted to meet in a dark alley. They continued down the path to one of the smaller houses where a dark-skinned Twi’lek man stood, a doorman who was probably always itching for someone to start a fight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m here to see Gor Koresh,” Din said, keeping his tone clipped but civil. He knew exactly what kind of establishment this was and if he was back in his twenties, when he was with Ran’s crew, he would be ready to lose all his credits there. But now, even just the thought of stepping inside was enough to put him on edge. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Twi’lek gave a glance down towards the pram carrying Little Green, looking back up at Din and Aili with a blank stare. “Enjoy the fights.” He opened the door behind him without any further questioning, loud jeers and cheers echoing down the pathway leading inside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They walked through the entrance and down the narrow walkway into the small arena. Din and Aili took note of the two Gamorreans in the ring fighting with vibro-axes. The room was louder once they made it down into the arena proper and Aili barely held back a wince when one Gamorrean managed a decent swipe at the other’s back. This really wasn’t the best place to bring a child but they didn’t have much of a choice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din led them down to the front row, their contact and Abyssin gangster who made most of his money scamming people out of their credits. Before they had even left the Crest, they had agreed to let Din do most of the talking even if Aili was the more convincing one of the two of them. They both knew how gangsters worked, always shared more information with men while trying to get into women’s pants rather than negotiate with them. They doubted Gor Koresh would be any different. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know this is no place for a child,” Koresh said as soon as they sat down, not even bothering to look away from the fight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wherever I go, he goes,” Din said shortly. What he didn’t say was that neither he nor Aili ever felt comfortable leaving Little Green behind on the Crest anymore, not even for quick supply runs. Hadn’t for weeks now, not since that last holo call. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Koresh chuckled, the sound doing nothing to ease the tension in Aili’s shoulders. “So I’ve heard.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve been quested to bring him to his kind. If we can locate other Mandalorians, they can help guide us. I’m told you know where to find them,” Din continued to talk as if he wasn’t also uneasy about this lead. He never did like dealing with gangsters, especially ones like Koresh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s uncouth to talk business immediately. Just enjoy the entertainment,” Koresh said, still staring intently at the fight happening before them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is hardly entertainment,” Aili said, rolling her eyes when one of the Gamorrean’s knocked the other one down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah! My Gamorrean’s not doing well. Kill him! Finish him!” Koresh shouted, finally turning to look over at Mando.“Do you gamble, Mando?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not when it can be avoided,” he said, eyes narrowing behind his helmet, knowing where Koresh was going with his question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I’ll bet you the information you seek that this Gamorrean’s going to die in the next minute and a half. And all you have to put up in exchange is your shiny beskar armor,” Koresh bargained, his tone conversational but still betraying his true intentions. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why, so you can make the bet and then shoot the Gamorrean yourself?” Aili questioned, leaning forward so Koresh could see that she knew how he worked. Gangsters really were all the same no matter what planet and what their arena of choice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How about we place you in the ring then, Dragon? Would that be a better bet for you?” Koresh knew all about the Mandalorian and his companion, word travelled fast throughout the galaxy especially through the seedy underbelly of it all. The thought of putting someone who was considered a scary story from the rule of the Empire into the ring was almost enough to make him salivate. The bets alone would be enough to make his profits skyrocket through the atmo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re prepared to pay you for the information, we’re not here to gamble or fight. And I don’t like leaving my fate up to chance,” Din said before Aili could say anything else. The more he kept Koresh’s attention on him, the less chance of him calling any of his enforcers on them. Also less of a chance of either of them being dragged into the ring against the worst he had in his docket. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nor do I,” Koresh said before he did exactly as Aili had said he would, pulling his blaster out and shooting the one Gamorrean before he could deliver the finishing blow. The body hadn’t even hit the ground yet when several gang members stood around them, every single one pointing their blasters at either Din or Aili. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The crowd around them stood in alarm and ran out of the arena as quickly as they could, shouting and bumping into each other in their panic. No one wanted to be in the middle of a shootout.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you for coming to me,” Koresh said, pointing his own blaster at Mando’s throat. One of the few places on his body unprotected by armor. “Normally, I have to seek out remnants of you Mandalorians in your hidden hives to harvest your precious shiny shells. Beskar’s value continues to rise and I’ve grown quite fond of it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Koresh had the upper hand, Mando unable to move without risking getting shot and the Dragon surrounded by blasters as well. “Give it to me now or I will peel it off your corpse.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tell me where the Mandalorians are and we’ll walk out of here without killing you,” Din said bluntly. He wasn’t surprised by the turn of events and he felt his anger begin to grow already. Not just because of the blasters in his face or the ones in Aili’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Koresh laughed, the sound echoing throughout the now empty arena. “You’re cornered and I’ve always wanted a Dragon on my docket.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He gave a quick nod to the man closest to Aili who moved to stand in front of her. “Get up,” the man said, aiming his blaster straight at Aili’s face. She tilted her head at him, a slow smirk crossing her face. If he wanted her to get up from her seat, he’d have to make her and that wouldn’t go his way at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He glanced over at Koresh who gave him another quick nod knowing that with so many blasters on him, Mando wouldn’t be able to move so much as a muscle. Didn’t matter how much he’d want to help his partner out. Of course, Koresh didn’t take into account that just because you have cornered a Dragon doesn’t mean you can capture it easily. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Koresh’s man stupidly put his blaster back in his holster before he reached out and tried to force Aili out of her seat. As soon as he laid a hand on her shoulder, she kicked out at his shoulder, knocking him off balance and giving her more room to work with. She used her seat as leverage, spinning around and wrapping her leg around his neck, dragging him down onto the wooden bench before punching him in the face twice to knock him out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tell us where the Mandalorians are,” Aili reiterated Din’s earlier statement, looking around and doing a quick count of just how many men they would need to take down. A few for her and a few for Din, should be easy enough. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you said you weren’t a gambler,” Koresh said, his single eye narrowed at the man before him. He should have expected the Dragon taking down a single man with ease. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Koresh could give any other orders, Din flicked his wrist and readied his whistling birds. From beside him, Little Green shut his pram closed knowing a bigger fight was about to happen. “I’m not.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din set off his whistling birds, each one hitting one of the men surrounding him and Aili. He stood from his chair, kicking Little Green’s pram away from the new fighting arena. Half a second later, he had to move back as the Gamorrean decided to jump into the fray. He missed and knocked himself out, sprawled out on the floor between Din and Koresh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Twi’lek bouncer wrapped his arms around Din while a Zabrak came at him, punching his helmet which did nothing but send Din’s helmet back and into the bouncer’s face. Din broke free of the bouncer’s hold and quickly decided that he was the bigger threat when compared to the Zabrak. With two fast punches, the bouncer was out on the floor. He turned around to deal with the Zabrak but was surprised by a hard punch being aimed at his face, sending him backwards into another man. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Meanwhile the men surrounding Ali made their move against her, the first one quickly going down with two fast and hard punches; one to the chest and another to the throat. She had time to send her elbow into another one’s face, hard enough that he went down as well before she spun to block the third’s punch. She punched him in the face first then went for a butterfly kick to send him to the ground, followed by a quick roundhouse kick to the fourth guy’s face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the same time, Din sent his elbow back into the man he was pushed into, bracing himself and taking a blow to the helmet from the Zabrak before he turned around and kicked the other man’s knee to send him to the ground. He ducked under the Zabrak’s swing before using his gauntlets to block the human man’s swings with his short-axe. He grabbed the handle, using his obviously superior strength to send the axe into the Zabrak’s face before hitting the human with it to knock him out. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to take the Zabrak out with punches, he pulled out his vibroblade and stabbed him in the chest, ripping it out in time to send it flying into the chest of a second Zabrak. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well that was fun,” Aili said, blowing a piece of hair that had fallen from her ponytail out of her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You and I have very different definitions of fun,” Din said before he caught sight of Koresh making a run for it. He let out an annoyed sigh, picking his blaster up from the ground and nodding for Aili to follow him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Koresh hadn’t made it very far and Din used his whipcord to trip the man, pulling him back towards them. Once he was under the streetlamp Din tossed the end of the cord over the light and pulled so Koresh was hanging upside down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“All right, stop, stop! I’ll tell you where he is but you must give me your word that you won’t kill me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well that all depends on the information you give us,” Aili replied, bringing out her vibroblade and pointing it at Koresh for emphasis. She wasn’t actually going to stab him but it felt good to threaten him after he tried to get his goons to drag her to wherever he kept his fighters. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Call her off!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili made a face at Koresh, “I’m not a massiff and if I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t have even made it out of the house.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Koresh wasn’t stupid enough to say anything about that because he knew it was true. He wouldn’t have made it one step out of the house if the Dragon thought they would lose him once he was outside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I promise you will not die by our hand. Now where is the Mandalorian you know of?” Din questioned before Koresh could keep talking and anger Aili more than she already was. Both of them had much shorter tempers these days, especially when their leads weren’t forthcoming with their information. It took both of them to keep each other in check. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tatooine,” Koresh answered quickly, just wanting to be cut down as soon as possible.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Din questioned, his tone harsh and letting Koresh know he wasn’t in the mood for lies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Mando I know of is on Tatooine,” Koresh said again, hoping that they believed him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this your idea of a joke?” Aili asked, her grip on her vibroblade tightening just a little more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve spent much time on Tatooine, never seen a Mandalorian there,” Din continued, wondering if it would be better to just cut their losses. It was obvious that Koresh was trying to pull something now, stalling so more men could get there or just being a piece of bantha shit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Koresh shook his head as best as he could while hanging upside down, “My information is good, I tell you. The city of Mos Pelgo. I swear it by the Gotra.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tatooine it is then,” Din tilted his helmet to the side a little. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ugh, I hate Tatooine,” Aili grumbled as she placed her vibroblade back into its sheath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They started to walk away, neither of them exactly thrilled about heading back to the desert planet. Although the Crest could probably use a tune-up from Peli so that was one good thing about their new lead. It was probably the only good thing about heading back to the planet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, Mando! You can’t leave me like this, cut me down!” Koresh shouted after them. They couldn’t just leave him hanging outside when the lights could go out without warning. He didn’t want to be outside if that happened, no one with a brain would want to be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That wasn’t part of the deal,” Din said over his shoulder as they kept walking away without stopping. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Their armor will be the first I mount on my wall when I get down from here,” Koresh couldn’t let them walk away without making one last comment. He got some satisfaction when the Dragon stopped in her tracks, hands curling into fists at her sides. “Yeah, that’s right, I know why you’re really so desperate to find other Mandos!” His pride in making a Dragon upset was short-lived when Mando spun around and shot out the light he was hanging from without another word. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The creatures came from the darkness and attacked Koresh as soon as the light was out. The sound of his screams did little for Aili who started walking away again. Din kept up with her fast strides easily, Little Green’s pram floating after them. “You know he was lying. He didn’t know where they went.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Probably</span>
  </em>
  <span> lying, we’ll never actually know,” Aili shot back even though she knew Din was more than likely right. Someone like Koresh got his info from other people and if she and Din couldn’t find them, she doubted anyone else could before them. Which is what was making their search so difficult. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aili--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not right now, please?” She interrupted before Din could continue talking. If they were really about to discuss anything, she didn’t want to be anywhere but on the Crest. The planet they were on really was seedy and she didn’t feel safe speaking about anything until they left the atmo. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rest of the walk back to the Razor Crest was a quiet one, although Din had managed to pull one of Aili’s hands into his own. She didn’t say anything about it but she also didn’t pull away so Din was going to take that as a win. That she wasn’t too upset about what Koresh had said, that she knew he had just been trying to get a rise out of her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Din said quietly once they were on the Crest, not letting Aili pull away from him just yet. She turned to look up at him with confusion on her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Aili questioned when Din didn’t immediately say something. They had to set a course for Tatooine and figure out where Mos Pelgo was because she had never heard of the town. Hopefully Peli would know where it was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re going to find them,” he finally said, the hand holding Aili’s own squeezing gently.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili tilted her head to the side, a wry smile crossing her face, “It’s a big galaxy, Din. And they all know how to go to ground.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t care, we are going to find them again,” Din said once more, placing his free hand on the base of Aili’s neck before bringing his helmet down to rest against her forehead. It was the only comfort he could give to her at the moment with all of the lights on and Little Green still awake and watching them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before releasing it. “I know, I just wish they’d send another holo.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They will when they can, when it’s safe to do so.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It had been a long few weeks for both of them, trying to find leads on Little Green’s kind while also trying to figure out what had happened on Oshriya after they had last visited. The rushed holo call they had received from Madsin hadn’t given them any information other than telling them they had to leave in a hurry but that they were all okay. Even Paz, Madsin had said with obvious sarcasm in her voice despite the rest of her rushed recording.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they had finally been able to get back to the planet it had been to an apologetic mayor saying he didn’t know where they had gone, just that they had bought passage on a ship one town over. All he knew was that one day New Republic (or people who looked like New Republic) soldiers had come looking for someone and the next thing he knew the Mandalorians were packing up to leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Since then it had been radio silence. Din and Aili barely holding it together for Little Green who knew that something was wrong. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“To Tatooine?” Din asked once he felt Aili finally relax against him, the tension in her shoulders mostly going away. She let out an annoyed sigh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do we really have a choice?” Aili questioned, looking up at Mando with a pout on her face. Even the thought of seeing Peli again did nothing to make going back to that planet better although maybe this time she wouldn’t end up with a concussion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din let out a quiet huff of laughter, “No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go ahead and set the course, I’ll make us something to eat,” Aili said, letting out another annoyed sigh before she stepped out of Din’s hold. “And don’t try to tell me you’re not hungry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din held his hands up in surrender knowing better than to argue with Aili now, it wasn’t like he could lie and say he had eaten something. If there was one thing no one on the ship could get away with, it was saying you had eaten or slept when you hadn’t. Both of them had tried and failed at it multiple times before giving up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili headed for their small kitchen area, picking Little Green up from his pram as she passed by, while Din went up the ladder to set their course. Both of them hoping that this would be the lead that they had been waiting for weeks to get. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Din, Aili, and Little Green make it to Tatooine with no problems unlike the last time and ask Peli for info on Mos Pelgo or the Mandalorian they're now looking for. She can only help them with one of those things and they're off for the tiny mining community hoping this lead pans out...but will it?</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Din landed the Crest in Peli’s hangar bay, setting it down as gently as he could before he headed back down into the cargo hold to join Aili and Little Green. If Aili was carrying a few more weapons than she had last time they were on Tatooine, he wasn’t going to mention it. Not when she would likely give him a look and bring up the concussion that had kind of been his fault. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pram or satchel?” Din asked, unsure which would be the easiest way to bring Little Green with them. He had been difficult lately, sometimes not wanting to stay in either, wanting either Din or Aili to carry him. If he wasn’t being carried then he was walking beside them as best as his short legs would let him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have no idea where Mos Pelgo is so that probably means speeder bike,” Aili pointed out. She still wasn’t exactly keen on being back on Tatooine so soon after the last time but she knew it was their best lead now. As long as Koresh hadn’t been lying through his teeth. And if he had been lying then he’d be lucky he was already dead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Satchel then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Probably the better choice,” Aili said, knowing it would be harder for Little Green to attempt to sneak out of the satchel without them noticing. She picked Little Green up from the cot where he had been waiting patiently for once. “We’ll be right behind you,” she said as she pulled the satchel over her head before getting the kid situated in it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din looked at the two of them for one more moment before he nodded his head and headed down the open gangway. He could hear the pit droids excitedly chirping and clanging into each other as they headed towards the ship. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, gang. Come on, you know he doesn’t like droids,” Peli spoke over the noise and it took a lot of self-control for Din to hold back a chuckle when he heard the droids give out disappointed beeps. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“May as well let them have at it. The Crest needs a good once over,” Din said, looking back at the Crest knowing that was putting it lightly. His ship had been through a lot since the last time they had been on Tatooine but at least there hadn’t been any more dog fights. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! So he likes droids now,” Peli said, clear surprise in her voice considering how he had shot at her droids last time. “Well you heard him, give it a once over.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a work in progress,” Aili said as she walked down the gangway. Din was slowly getting used to droids, something she knew was related to IG-11’s sacrifice, but they were starting small. Maybe one day they could manage to get an astromech on board the Crest but she knew that he wasn’t at that point yet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And he hasn’t scared you off yet, good job Mando!” Peli exclaimed. She had almost been worried that the Mandalorian hadn’t come with the one person who had common sense on the Razor Crest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Remind me to tell you about the time he tried to ditch me on Sorgan,” Aili threw a grin Din’s way, barely holding back a laugh when he tensed up a little. Either remembering the threats she had made against him or preparing to be chewed out by Peli. Both options would lead to entertainment for Aili. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That backwater skughole? Really, Mando?” Peli questioned, sending a look in Din's direction. In her own opinion, the only real difference between Tatooine and Sorgan was the amount of plant life. And maybe Sorgan had a few less bounty hunters looking for their bounties but that was because no one wanted to be there in the first place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He wouldn’t be able to get rid of me now anyway, I’ve gotten attached,” Aili shrugged, a small smile on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“To Mando?” Din wasn’t sure if he should be offended or not by the incredulous tone in Peli’s voice or the look of shock she sent Aili’s way. In Peli’s defense, the last time they had been planet-side, Aili could barely stand being within five feet of Din for longer than a few minutes. It was still sometimes a miracle that they had survived sharing a hut on Sorgan for weeks let alone the Crest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, this little cutie obviously,” Aili countered, bringing the satchel forward so Peli could see Little Green was still with them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, there he is! Thank the Force! This little thing has had me worried sick,” Peli exclaimed as she pulled Little Green out of the satchel. “Come here, you little womp rat. Looks like it remembers me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>He</span>
  </em>
  <span> does.” Aili was actually getting tired of people referring to Little Green as an “it” when he was clearly a male. Both she and Din had given him enough baths by this point to know for sure. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How much do you want for him? Just kidding, but not really. You know if this thing ever divides or buds, I will gladly pay for the offspring,” Peli said in a way that let them know she was mostly joking with them. If given the chance she would definitely pay them to take the kid off their hands, and she wouldn't even charge them if they needed a babysitter now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If that ever happens, you can have the offspring for free. We can barely handle him on his own,” Aili made a face at Little Green who let out a coo like he was completely innocent and on his best behavior all the time. It would have worked on anyone other than Aili or Din who knew what kind of shit he could get up to when left alone for a minute too long. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you two done?” Din asked, itching to ask Peli about the supposed Mandalorian that had been spotted on the planet. He still couldn’t fully trust the info that Koresh had given them, not when he had been to Tatooine so many times before and had never seen another Mandalorian. There was a loud clanging noise and everyone turned to see what the pit droids were up to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Watch what you’re doing up there! He barely trusts your kind. You wanna give all droids a bad name?” Peli exclaimed as her droids continued making a mess of things. They weren’t exactly messing with the Crest, just the tools they were supposed to be using to give the ship a tune-up. Peli shook her head wondering exactly why she kept those droids around sometimes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re here on business and we need your help,” Din said, turning back to look at Peli. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, then, business you shall have. Care for me to watch this wrinkled critter while you seek out adventure?” Peli asked, hoping that they would say yes. She had kind of missed the little womp rat despite his voracious appetite for things almost half his size. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry but, no, we’d feel better if he was with us,” Aili replied with an apologetic smile on her face. It really wasn’t that they didn’t trust Peli but she was no longer comfortable leaving Little Green out of her sight unless she knew he was down for a nap. Even then she felt the need to check on him more than once, even when they were in hyperspace and no one could feasibly get onto the ship to take him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve been quested to bring him back to his kind,” Din continued, keeping his voice even. He knew that both him and Aili had gotten attached to the kid but they still had their mission from the Armorer. But he also figured that if they could find his kind that they would be able to put more effort towards finding where the rest of their clan had gone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, wow, can’t help you there. I’ve never seen any like it. And trust me, I’ve seen all shapes and sizes in this town.” Peli quirked her mouth to the side as she tried to recall if she had ever heard about a species even closely resembling the small alien in her arms. Nothing was coming to mind though. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A Mandalorian Armorer has set us on our path. If we can find another of my kind then I can chart a path through the network of coverts,” Din explained, glancing over at Aili who rocked on her feet slightly. The quick exchange didn’t escape Peli’s notice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Peli looked at the two of them for a moment, eyes narrowed in suspicion. “There’s something you two aren’t telling me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din and Aili shared a look with each other, Din tilting his head to the side after a few seconds to let Aili know that it was her call. Aili looked back at Peli, the mechanic was more than trustworthy and having another set of ears to the ground wouldn’t hurt. If anything it could make their search easier so she went to speak. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I won’t pry,” Peli said before Aili could even get a single word out. “You’ve been the only Mando here for years from what I can tell.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where’s Mos Pelgo? We were told there’s one there,” Din said when it was clear that Aili was going to take Peli at her word for now. Maybe this lead would pan out and they wouldn’t have to ask the mechanic to keep an ear to the ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, boy. I haven’t heard that name in a while.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We couldn’t find it on the map at all,” Aili said, still unsure about this lead and her hope of it still being there was waning now that Peli had said that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s because it was wiped out by bandits. Once the Empire fell it was a free-for-all. I didn’t dare leave the city walls, still don’t,” Peli explained. She knew some of the things that went down outside of the city walls and so she chose to stay within the boundary. There was nothing outside the walls that she needed anyway. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s not wrong,” Aili muttered to herself. She had noticed that once the Empire fell there had been a huge uptick in bounties, especially on planets like Tatooine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you tell us where it used to be?” Din asked. It wasn’t like they had much of a choice even if it was a ghost town now. If there was even a chance that there was a Mandalorian there they had to take it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Depends who’s askin’, you wanna see it?” Peli asked before turning to shout for one of her other droids to come over. “R-five! Bring the map of Tatooine!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, take your time, seriously,” she continued when the droid made its way to them at a leisurely pace. “You just can’t get good help anymore, I don’t even know who to complain to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili let out a snort of laughter at Peli’s antics. Yeah if there was one good thing about coming to Tatooine it was listening to Peli talk to her droids. The woman simultaneously had all the patience and no patience for them at all. Eventually the droid made it over to them and brought up a map of Tatooine in all its boring, covered in sand and more sand self.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is a map of Tatooine before the war. You got Mos Eisley, Mos Espa, and up around this region, Mos Pelgo,” Peli pointed to a huge blank area on the map. Din and Aili glanced over at each other before Aili shrugged her shoulders paired with a shake of her head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t see anything,” Din said, looking back at Peli.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, it’s there. Or at least it used to be. Not much to speak of, it’s an old mining settlement,” Peli explained. “They’re gonna see that big, hunk of metal long before you land.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“About that…” Aili trailed off with a smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You still have that speeder bike?” Din asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Peli looked at them like they were both crazy, “You want to travel all the way there on a speeder bike?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mhm, so do you have it?” Aili asked again. Peli was right about anyone there spotting the Crest before they would have the chance to land. They didn’t want to risk whoever they were looking for getting the chance to hide before they could exit the Crest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Things have changed between you two, huh? But yeah, it’s a little rusty but, I got it,” Peli said, nodding for them to follow her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They got their things settled on the speeder bike as quickly as possible, not wanting to lose too much daylight. Aili made sure Little Green’s satchel would be secure before she took him back from Peli and placed him in it. He would be so excited about the trip with the wind blowing in his face that neither she nor Din were worried that he would try to climb out. With a few more words exchanged with Peli, they were off into the sandscape. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili had to sit in front of Din and this time it wasn’t so she could sit as far away from him as possible. But his jetpack would make sitting behind him impossibly uncomfortable for her so she settled for leaning back against his chest so he could still reach the handles. She knew he still preferred being the one to pilot so she’d let him this time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They did have to stop when the suns went down, quickly and easily negotiating with a group of Tuskens to share a camp for the night. It wasn’t hard since both of them respected Tuskens and knew that they had more claim to Tatooine than either of them. When the suns had barely started to rise, they broke camp and headed back out into the sands. Just when Aili was going to ask for a break from sitting on the bike for hours, they finally came across what had to be Mos Pelgo. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay when Peli said it was small, I thought she was exaggerating,” Aili said low enough that only Din could hear her. She couldn’t even be surprised by the fact that every single person they passed was just staring at them. She doubted they ever got visitors, not with how far out of the way they were. She was more surprised to see that they could even live out here. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course, maybe they’re just surprised to see another Mandalorian,” she added when she realized that they were mostly staring at Din and all his shiny armor. Din chose to not say anything as they came to a stop outside what looked like a cantina. That would be their best bet at getting information, bartenders always talked. Although they might have a harder time in a town this small. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They climbed off the bike, Aili walking around to pick Little Green up from the satchel. They didn’t know any of these people and while she doubted any of them would hurt a child she wasn’t going to take any chances. There was a Weequay behind the bar who stopped in his tracks as soon as they stepped inside. That always bode well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I help you two with something?” The bartender asked gruffly and Aili barely hid a wince. This was already not going their way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re looking for a Mandalorian,” Din said, placing his hands on the bartop to come off as a little less threatening. If the Weequay could see his hands were nowhere near his weapons maybe he’d be a little more forthcoming. Aili’s hands were already full so she didn’t have to work half as hard as Din to appear less threatening. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We don’t get many visitors in these parts. Can you describe him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, he’d...he’d look like him?” Aili said, gesturing towards Din with her head. She would’ve assumed that asking for a Mandalorian would have been the only description the bartender would need to know who they were looking for. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bartender cocked his head to the side in thought. “You mean the Marshal?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your Marshal wears Mandalorian armor?” Din asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See for yourself,” the bartender said, turning to look towards the entrance they had just come in from. Din and Aili both turned to see the Marshal standing in the entrance of the cantina wearing beat up Mandalorian armor that had clearly seen better days. There was even what looked like a blaster bolt sized dent on the helmet, any other type of metal would have meant the wearer would be dead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What brings you here, strangers?” The Marshal asked, sauntering into the cantina and up to the bar top. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve been searching for you for many parsecs,” Din said, his shoulders losing just a little bit of the tension now that they were finally seeing another Mandalorian after so many dead ends. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, now you found me. Weequay, three snorts of spotchka.” The bartender was quick to grab both the spotchka and the cups, placing everything on the bartop for the Marshal to take. Aili tilted her head in confusion wondering if Din had caught on like she had. Why would they need spotchka let alone </span>
  <em>
    <span>three</span>
  </em>
  <span> glasses. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t you two join me for a drink?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din had taken maybe a step and a half towards the table the Marshal had sat at when he stopped in his tracks. Aili cringed as she watched the Marshal start to remove his helmet and she spun around to face the bartender. “Can I actually get a shot of your strongest?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was no way this was going to end well. She knew enough about Mandalorian’s and the Creed they took, the one that Din had taken when he was of age. She also knew how closely he followed the rules that came with it despite the many loopholes they had come up with over the past few weeks. She put Little Green down on the ground beside her, just in case it came down to a shootout. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve never met a real Mandalorian,” the Marshal said as he set the helmet down on the table. Aili took the shot the bartender gave her and tossed it back. She was already contemplating a second one. The Marshal let out a huff of laughter when Din continued to just stare at him. He opened up the bottle of spotchka and served out three drinks worth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Heard stories. I know you’re good at killing and probably none too happy to see me wearing this hardware.” He placed the bottle back down, looking up at Din as he did. “I figure only one of us walkin’ out of here. But then I see the little lady and the little guy…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Little what now?” Aili tilted her head to the side. She better have heard this guy wrong because one more wrong word and Din wouldn’t be the one shooting him. Fuckin’ people on Tatooine automatically assuming she was just Din’s wife or something. That second drink was starting to look real good now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I think maybe I pegged you wrong.” The Marshal finished saying, ignoring what Aili had said for the moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who are you?” Din questioned, his hand itching to reach for his blaster. But then he remembered how close both Aili and the kid were and he figured he would need to wait a bit longer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Cobb Vanth, Marshal of Mos Pelgo,” the man said, tossing his drink back like he didn’t have a pissed off Mandalorian staring him down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where did you get the armor?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bought it off some Jawas,” Cobb said as if that would make it any better. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hand it over,” Din said shortly, anger growing with every passing second. Not only was some man wearing armor that didn’t belong to him but Jawas had stolen it from a Mandalorian. Probably the one that they were looking for which meant they were back to zero leads. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, pal. I’m sure you call the shots where you come from, but ‘round here, I’m the one who tells folks what to do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Take it off. Or I will.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili couldn’t stop the snort of laughter that escaped her and she didn’t even bother to look apologetic when Din turned to look at her. She simply shrugged, a grin on her face that she couldn’t wipe away. It was his fault for wording it that way. It had absolutely nothing to do with the shot the bartender had poured for her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We gon’ do this in front of the kid?” Cobb questioned, nodding his head towards where Little Green was. The kid in question looked up and let out a quiet coo when he saw everyone looking at him now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s seen worse,” Din and Aili said at the same time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right here, then?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cobb Vanth let out a harsh sigh before he stood up, kicking his chair away from him. He and Din continued to stare each other down, hands at their holsters. Aili knew she didn’t have much to worry about since Din was wearing full beskar armor even if there were weak points like his neck. Before either of them could pull their blasters out, the ground beneath their feet started to rumble. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili braced herself against the bartop as the ground beneath her feet continued to shake. A quick glance to her left let her know the kid was okay, hiding in the random vase on the ground. Somehow both Din and Cobb were standing just fine. Cobb held up a single finger before he walked out of the cantina, Din following after him. Aili noticed that the bartender had run out the back door as fast as he could and there was an alarm blaring throughout the town. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Against her better judgement, she joined Din and the Marshal out on the front steps of the cantina. Everyone was running, rushing to get off of the sand and into their homes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the kriff is that?” Aili asked, watching as the sand shifted down the middle of the town. Whatever it was, it was big, bigger than she would ever want to deal with if she had the choice. As it passed by them, she could make out giant spines along its back as it almost swam through the sand towards a bantha drinking water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh fuck me,” Aili breathed out. Her eyes were wide as she watched the Krayt Dragon emerge from the shifting sands and swallow the bantha whole. It was gone after that, continuing out of the town now that it had fed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe we can work something out,” Cobb said, heading back into the cantina before either Din or Aili could say anything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili turned to Din once her shock wore off, eyes still wide. “Just because I was part of a secret Empire project where my code name was Dragon Leader... does not mean I want to take on a Krayt Dragon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think we have much of a choice,” Din said, glancing over at her with a tilt of his helmet. She stared up at him for a long moment, feeling her brow twitch a little in her annoyance. Eventually she let out a sigh and gestured for him to walk back into the cantina so they could talk things over with the Marshal. And maybe she’d get another drink or two, she’d need it if they were really planning on taking on a Krayt Dragon.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Cobb convinces Din and Aili (mostly Din) to help him take down the Krayt Dragon and on the way to it's lair, they run into more people that can help them. That is if Din and Aili can broker some peace first...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm sorry for posting so late and for the chapter being a little shorter than the last two updates, it's been a long week at work already and some health issues are messing with my energy levels again but I should be fine for Saturday's update</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“That creature’s been terrorizing these parts since long before Mos Pelgo was established,” Cobb explained as they walked through the town. Everyone was working together to put everything the krayt dragon had knocked over or ripped up back the way it should be. “Thanks to this armor I’ve been able to protect this town from bandits and Sand People. They look to me to protect ‘em.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But a krayt dragon is too much for me to take on alone.” Cobb paused, looking at Din and Aili with a look in his eyes that Aili didn’t like too much. Not because it was suspicious but because she could tell that he was about to make them an offer that Din wouldn’t be able to refuse. “Help me kill it and I’ll give you the armor.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>An offer like that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Deal.” Din said before Aili could even say anything. “I’ll ride back to the ship, blow it out of the sand from the sky, use the bantha as bait.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That won’t work,” Aili said quickly. There were several things wrong with Din’s plan that she could already see. The amount of time it would take to even ride back to the Crest was one and with the limited knowledge she had about actual krayt dragons, flying overhead would be the last thing they would want to do. Too many variables and way too many unknowns.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s right. The ship passes above, it senses the vibrations and stays underground,” Cobb said like it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And all you’d be shooting at is sand,” Aili added, giving Din a side glance. She wished she could say that it had been a good plan but then she would be lying. And they had tried to make a habit of </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> lying to each other even about small things. She knew Din wasn’t stupid, far from it, but sometimes he didn’t think before speaking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do know where it lives,” Cobb added. Although as much as he wanted to finally deal with the krayt dragon, he wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of actually getting too close to it. He hoped the Mandalorian and his companion had some good weapons with them and not on their ship.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How far?” Din asked, hoping it wasn’t actually far. Though with the size of the animal, it couldn’t be too close to the town. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not far,” Cobb said although there was something in his tone that let Aili know it still wasn’t exactly close. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me guess, we need to travel by speeder bike to get there?” Aili asked even though she already knew the answer. There was no other way to travel on the planet because that would be too easy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep,” Cobb answered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice even if she actually tried to at this point, “Great.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You could always stay here with Ad’ika,” Din suggested, hesitating for just a moment over what to call the kid around Cobb. Calling him Little Green around people they didn’t really know seemed too personal but just saying “the kid” didn’t seem right anymore either. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And let you attempt to solo a krayt dragon?” Aili countered with, raising an eyebrow as she glanced up at Din.  She wasn’t even going to touch on the new nickname he had given Little Green for some reason. She’d ask him about it later.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Try looking me in the eyes when you say that,” Aili interrupted before Din could even attempt to finish his sentence. He wasn’t even looking at her, his helmet turned slightly away from facing her. She knew most of his tells by this point and she definitely knew when he wasn’t looking her in the eye. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you two done or should I go get our marriage counselor?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re not married,” they said at the same time, both looking at Cobb straight on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Cobb said, holding his hands up in surrender not sure which was worse;the blank stare of Mando’s t-visor or the blunt look Aili was giving him. He also couldn’t tell how they even felt about his assumption. “But if you two are done, we should get goin’ before the suns go down.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And that was how they ended up on the speeder bike again, this time with Aili hoping that when Cobb said it wasn’t far he meant it. Maker, she was tired of looking at sand already and made a mental note to tell Din that the only way she wanted to see sand again, was if they went to a planet with an ocean of actual water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t understand what it was like. The town was on its last legs. It started after we got news of the Death Star blowing up, the second one, that is,” Cobb started to explain once both of their speeder bikes were within talking distance of each other. That is, once Din and Cobb were done with their little pissing match over whose bike was faster. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Empire was pullin’ outta Tatooine, there was blaster fire over Mos Eisley. The occupation was over. We didn’t even have time to celebrate, that very night the Mining Collective moved in,” Cobb continued to explain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t that Aili was too tired to listen to Cobb’s story or that she didn’t care but for some reason, which she was going to blame on the suns beating down on them and the sand glare, her head was killing her. She knew Din would pay attention enough for the both of them and would let her know any information that was actually useful. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She also knew that he wouldn’t let her fall off the bike so despite her best efforts she fell asleep, her head resting against Din’s shoulder. She missed the concerned look Din sent her way before he continued to listen to Cobb’s story. He figured she was just tired from being on the speeder bike for the better part of the last two days. Even he was getting tired of being on the bike, the only one not seeming to care at all was Little Green. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili flinched awake when the speeder bike came to a sudden stop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?” Din asked although his tone was hushed and more than a little hurried. He had been just about to shake Aili awake when he felt her flinch against him and wake up on her own. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine. Why did we stop?” Aili deflected, they wouldn’t have stopped for no reason and she’d rather focus on that rather than what had woken her up. She couldn't explain why her heart had started pounding in time with her headache. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get your rifle, we heard something,” Din said. Aili was quick to shake away the sleep from her eyes so she could do the same. Hopping down from the bike and grabbing her rifle, taking cover beside Din who had just grabbed his amban rifle and was taking cover behind the bike. Cobb was doing the same thing with his own blaster and pointing it towards the noise. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were echoing growls surrounding them in the canyon, Little Green hiding in his satchel. Something about the growls sounded familiar to both Din and Aili but neither could place them with the way they were echoing. Several massiffs came out from behind the rocks, snarling at the sight of them all and Aili felt some tension in her shoulders release. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nudged Din and nodded her head towards the animals. He was better at verbal Tusken than she was. She couldn’t really hit the low notes or the odd growl to the vocalizations. Din laid his rifle down against the bike, bringing a hand up to his helmet to call out to the massiffs. They stopped growling as soon as they heard him and Cobb slowly looked back at them in confusion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell are you doin’?” Cobb questioned as Din walked past him and towards the massiffs without explanation. Din turned slightly, gesturing for Cobb to hold his fire and to wait. Aili lowered her rifle, still keeping it on hand just in case this idea didn’t work out. Din said a few more things in Tusken, hand gestures included this time. Cobb stared in shock as the leader of the pack came over and Din knelt down to pet it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell is goin’ on?” Cobb asked, looking over at Aili with a confused expression on his face. She simply shrugged and placed her rifle back down on the bike. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re basically meaner versions of a dog but they like Tuskens and Tuskens like them,” Aili explained although she knew it was a simplification of the entire thing. She was going to explain more but then a couple of Tuskens walked out from behind the rocks, more than likely drawn by Din’s shouting. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was an exchange of Tusken and Aili tried to keep up with the conversation as best as she could with her head still hurting. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do but she knew more than Cobb did with the way he was still staring at the group before them with a confused look on his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, partner, wanna tell me what’s going on?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They want to kill the krayt dragon too,” Din finally said, looking back at them as he did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well the more help…” Aili trailed off. If there was one thing they could count on now was for the Tuskens to do whatever it took to take down the krayt dragon. For a price she was sure but knowing Tuskens it wouldn’t be anything too big. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Tuskens led them to the camp that they had set up, just in time as the suns started to set again. There were still discussions that needed to be done though, figuring out how they were going to take down the krayt dragon. Cobb was sitting next to Din while Aili was on Din’s other side, Little Green choosing to sit between the two of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Every time Aili looked over at Cobb, she had to hold back from laughing as he just continued to look more and more confused by the conversation happening. Instead she tried to keep her attention on the obvious leader of the Tuskens, adding small comments here and there whenever Din paused for too long trying to remember a word. The look on Cobb’s face when she first joined in made her night, made the whole trip out into the sand dunes worth it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Tusken closest to Cobb broke open a black melon and handed it to Cobb who took it slowly. “What am I supposed to do with this?” Cobb asked, his face scrunched up in disgust after he took a sniff of the melon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You drink it,” Din said bluntly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It stinks.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And?” Aili questioned wondering what that had to do with anything. Cobb was obviously not skilled in negotiations if he couldn’t tell what an insult it would be to turn down something the Tuskens offered him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you want their help?” Din asked, trying to keep his voice low enough that the Tuskens couldn’t tell that Cobb was arguing with them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not if I have to drink this,” Cobb replied, barely keeping his voice down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not even that bad,” Aili said, making a face at Cobb who still refused to drink the black melon. She was lying anyway, black melon tasted horrible but if a Tusken offered one to her she would drink it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Tusken started speaking again, angrier than before. Both Aili and Din knew they had to get Cobb to drink the black melon before they lost the chance of an alliance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He says your people steal their water and now you insult them by not drinking it,” Din said, trying to keep up with how fast the Tusken leader was speaking. He considered himself mostly fluent but that didn’t mean it was easy when Tuskens spoke quickly. “They know about Mos Pelgo, they know how many Sand People you killed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They raided the village, I defended the town,” Cobb argued back, face scrunched up in anger which was doing nothing to calm down the Tuskens. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lower your voice.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I knew this was a bad idea,” Cobb said, tossing the black melon aside. The Tusken stood up, getting angry as well now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re agitating them,” Din said, his voice taking on an annoyed edge now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“These monsters can’t be reasoned with!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili let out an annoyed sigh before shooting up from her seat and grabbing one of Cobb’s arms, twisting it behind his back before kicking the back of his knee to bring him down to the ground. “If you want to be an asshole, be one on your own time but right now, if you want your town to ever be free of the krayt dragon...you need them just as much as they need you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din said something to the Tuskens which led to them calming down somewhat although they were still agitated with Cobb. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you telling them?” Cobb questioned, not liking that he couldn’t understand a single thing being said just as much as he didn’t like the hold Aili still had on him. He hadn’t thought someone as small as her could so much as toss a decent punch let alone have such a firm grip on his arm still. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Same thing she just told you. If we fight amongst ourselves, the monster will kill us all,” Din answered before turning back to the Tusken leader. “Now, how do we kill it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili let Cobb up so he could take his seat again and once she was sure that he would stay there, she retook her own seat as well. At least now he knew that she wasn’t messing around and she would knock him on his ass if she needed to because at the moment, the Tuskens were being more cooperative than him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Tusken answered Din’s question, saying that they would lead them to where the krayt dragon lived when the suns rose. Going at night wasn’t safe and they wouldn’t be able to see it clearly anyway. They pointed at one of the tents, gesturing at all of them. Aili barely held back an annoyed sigh at the fact that they had to share a tent with Cobb for the night but she also knew the Tuskens wouldn’t trust him on his own. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Remind me again how we got roped into this?” Aili asked Din once she was sure that Cobb was asleep. Little Green was asleep between them, tired from doing what she didn’t know since he had spent most of the day in the satchel but she wasn’t going to complain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He promised to give the armor to me,” Din answered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know that much, I was there when he made the deal,” Aili said, an unimpressed look on her face. “I meant, how do we end up in these situations every time we come to this planet?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Last time wasn’t that bad,” Din replied, before cringing behind his helmet when he remembered everything that had happened last time they came to Tatooine. Probably not the best thing he could have said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili made a face at Din, “You got shot at, I ended up with a concussion, and we didn’t even get the bounty.” She let out a sigh, turning over onto her back and bringing a hand up to massage her temple. Her headache had yet to go away and it was not making it easy to sleep. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure you’re okay?” Din asked, getting worried now that it was obvious Aili’s earlier headache was still bothering her. She had them before but they had never lasted this long. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s fine, just all the sun. That helmet of yours protects you from it,” Aili answered, waving away Din’s worry. She just needed sleep and in the morning, she’d try to find something in her pack to use to keep the sun off her head before they headed out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine,” Aili interrupted, turning back over to face Din. “I promise if it gets bad, you’ll be the first to know so can we just get some sleep before we have to fight a dragon?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili didn’t wait for Din to answer before she shuffled as close as she could with Little Green between them, placing her head on Din’s chest despite the armor that still covered it. He had opted to leave it on when they found out they’d be sharing with Cobb who had chosen to do the same with his own armor aside from the helmet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, as long as you tell me if it gets bad,” Din said, bringing a hand up to run his hand through Aili’s hair. It was one of the quickest ways to get her to relax long enough to fall asleep and it worked even laying in a tent on her least favorite planet. Once he was sure she was asleep, he finally let himself relax enough to fall asleep as well despite his worry. He trusted that Aili would keep her promise if it got worse. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It's time for Din and Aili to take on the Krayt Dragon but can they get the townspeople of Mos Pelgo to work alongside the Tuskens? Can they even come up with a plan to take down the creature once and for all?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Remember when I said I'd totally be able to post on Saturday? Turns out that was a lie because I had trouble focusing on anything for longer than a few minutes. I may have to rethink my posting schedule just a little bit but better late than never, right?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>As soon as the suns were up, they were on their way following the Tuskens to where the krayt dragon lived. Aili still wasn’t exactly thrilled about this endeavor but they had already agreed to it and at least her headache had gone away. There had been just enough banthas for all of them to be able to ride solo but Aili and Din had chosen to share one so there could be one used for supplies...or bait, whichever one they needed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>From the Tusken camp it was another decent length in the suns of Tatooine but thankfully Aili had found something in her pack that she could use as a makeshift headscarf. It wasn’t doing much to keep the sun off her face but at least she wasn’t getting hit by full sunlight anymore. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They made it the krayt dragon’s cave, an abandoned sarlacc pit from the looks of it but Aili hoped she was wrong. They watched from the cliff above as one of the Tuskens led one of the bantha down to the entrance of the cave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They say it lives in there, they say it sleeps in an abandoned sarlacc pit,” Din translated what the Tusken beside him was saying even as he took the proffered binocs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lived on Tatooine my whole life, there’s no such thing as an abandoned sarlacc pit,” Cobb replied, second guessing this whole plan. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is if you eat the sarlacc,” Din said, handing the binocs back to the Tusken. He didn’t really want or need them to be able to see what was about to happen. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Mando</span>
  </em>
  <span>, if this thing can eat a whole sarlacc, how big is it?” Aili asked, turning her head to shoot Din a withering glare. She had hoped she was wrong about it being a sarlacc pit but the Tuskens had ruined any hope of that. Sure they had seen it come up to eat the bantha back in Mos Pelgo but that had been a quick thing, barely enough time to see anything let alone how big it really was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re laying out a bantha to protect the settlement. They’ve studied its digestion cycle for generations,” Din continued to explain as if Aili hadn’t said anything. He was beginning to have similar reservations but he had already made a deal with Cobb. They couldn’t back out now and he wasn’t willing to leave armor that should be with Mandalorians in the hands of someone who had never even seen someone who had taken the Creed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m really going to need you to stop talking,” Aili muttered to herself. Everything about this mission was getting worse and worse as they got more information. Krayt dragons were already big to begin with but one that had been alive for generations of Tuskens? There was just no way of knowing how big it really was and she didn’t think she wanted the answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They feed the dragon to make it sleep longer.” That was the last of the translations for now which just left waiting to see the dragon come out to eat. If it came out to eat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That plan isn’t working out if it keeps attacking Mos Pelgo as well,” Aili said although she didn’t doubt that the Tuskens were trying their best. It was hard to predict what a krayt dragon was going to do after all. The Tusken down with the bantha let out a loud shout, loud enough that they could hear it from above and Aili looked down at Little Green when he let out a quiet whimper. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a deep growl that echoed from the cave and as the Tusken began to run away from the entrance, the ground started to rumble again like it had back at Mos Pelgo. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh fuck,” Aili whispered, barely loud enough for Din and Cobb to hear her. “He’s not gonna make it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Cobb hissed back. Aili couldn’t bring herself to look away as the krayt dragon came out of the cave, completely bypassing the bantha and swallowing the Tusken whole before it retreated back into its home. Little Green let out another whine, hiding behind the rock and bringing himself closer to Aili’s side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Vibrations. Cobb had said it just the other day. It was the whole reason they couldn’t just use the guns on the Crest to take the dragon out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They might be open to some fresh ideas,” Din said slowly, trying to process what they had just seen. Now they knew why the dragon was never satisfied with a single bantha and went for Mos Pelgo looking for food. It </span>
  <em>
    <span>wasn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> ever eating a bantha with the Tuskens.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They headed back to the Tusken camp to brainstorm because they clearly needed a different approach. There was no way Aili was going to step foot on the ground below the cliff nor would she let Din go either. She didn’t care if she had to knock him out and cuff him to something to keep him from doing anything stupid. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are the bones?” Cobb asked, looking down at the bones that the Tuskens had arranged on the ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s the krayt dragon,” Din answered shortly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And those little rocks?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not to scale.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh I think it is,” Aili said bluntly. She hadn’t gotten a very good look at the dragon before it had gone back into its cave but what she had seen was enough for her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t be, that’s too big,” Cobb replied, his eyes going a bit wide. What had he dragged himself into this time?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you not see it earlier? Because I did and this seems pretty accurate, maybe a little generous on our size,” Aili questioned Cobb, looking over at him with a raised eyebrow. Surely he had been paying at least a little attention when the dragon had come out and eaten that Tusken. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din exchanged a few  more signs with the Tuskens before turning back to Cobb, “It’s to scale.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“”I’ve only ever seen it’s head and neck, it’s a whole lot bigger’n I guessed. Might be time to rethink our arrangement,” Cobb said slowly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Tuskens and Din exchanged more words followed by the Tusken leader dropping more small rocks around the krayt dragon. Aili had to bring a hand up to her mouth to stop herself from saying anything. Din really had a knack for negotiating with the Tuskens in ways that were sure to annoy other people. Last time had been that asshole Toro’s binocs but this was so much worse than that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s more like it,” Cobb said, liking this arrangement much more. “Where are they getting the reinforcements?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count,” Aili said, looking up at Cobb with an almost pitying glance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is that supposed to mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I volunteered your village,” Din said before Aili could attempt to drag the conversation out any longer. If they wanted to get this done, they needed to get it done quickly. There were only so many hours in the Tatooine suns.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The look on Cobb’s face was once again more than a little worth it. Aili hoped that he was better at convincing the people in Mos Pelgo to help than he had been with the Tuskens. A few more words were exchanged with the Tuskens and then they were heading back to town to attempt to convince the people of Mos Pelgo to team up with people they didn’t get along with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They attacked us less than a year ago, killed half a dozen of us by the mining camp. I’d say I took down about twice as many Tuskens,” Cobb said once they got back to the town.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The town respects you. My guess is, they’ll listen to reason,” Din replied, hoping he was right. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Cobb climbed off his speeder bike and went ahead to gather up all of the able-bodied people in town. They’d need as many as they could get to help take down the krayt dragon. He figured maybe buying them all a round would ease them into the idea as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Din,” Aili said, reaching out to stop him from getting off the bike for a moment. “Do you really think this is a good idea? That they’ll put their anger aside long enough for this to work?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re going to have to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili had more she wanted to say but chose to keep it to herself. It wouldn’t do them any good anyway. She really hoped Cobb could talk to his people. The last thing any of them needed was for both groups to remain divided when they clearly had a common enemy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This here is a Mandalorian, you know what that means?” Cobb asked the townspeople gathered in the cantina. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve heard the stories,” the bartender from earlier said, wondering what the point of this town meeting was. Everyone by now was aware that their Marshal had taken off somewhere with the Mandalorian and his companion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then you know how good they are at killing,” Cobb said, pausing for effect before pointing over at Din. “Now, this one’s got a problem. I got a suit ‘o salvaged armor and the Mandalorian creed says it’s his to take.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The people in the cantina started murmuring amongst themselves and Aili had to stop herself from saying anything. She couldn’t stop herself from glancing over at Cobb with an unamused look in her eyes though. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But, I’ve got a problem too. A krayt dragon has been peeling off our pack animals and sometimes taking our mining haul with it. It’s just a matter of time before it grows tired of banthas and goes after a couple of you townsfolk or even, so help us, the school.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That got people’s attention and for the first time, Aili was optimistic that Cobb was going to be able to pull this off. Appeal to the townspeople and their love for their children, it might lessen the blow of who they would have to work with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cobb continued with his speech, “As much as I’ve grown fond of the armor, I’m even more fond of this town. The Mandalorian and his companion are willing to help us slay the leviathan in exchange for returning the armor to its ancestral owners.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well that settles it,” the bartender spoke again wondering what they were doing, still talking about it when they could be planning how to take down the krayt dragon once and for all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s more,” Cobb said, knowing that this was going to be the difficult part. “We can’t take on the krayt alone and the Sand People are willing to help.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was an uproar as soon as the words left Cobb’s mouth. Cries of them being monsters or that they raid the mines, Aili didn’t care much for their dissent and she pushed herself away from the bar top she had been leaning against. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Enough!” Her voice carried itself throughout the cantina and everyone slowly quieted to turn and stare at her. “Fighting amongst yourselves isn’t going to help anyone so shut up and listen.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili glanced back and nodded for Din to step forward. Better for him to continue and if that didn’t work, she’d take over. But he’d be slightly better than her and would be less prone to insulting them by accident or on purpose. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve seen the size of that thing, it will swallow your town when the fancy hits it. You’re lucky Mos Pelgo isn’t a sand field already.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili had forgotten just how bad Din was with his words sometimes but at least this was Tatooine. Somewhere where being blunt was the better option unlike Sorgan where it had been the worst option. And he was still being nicer than she would be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know these people, they are brutal but so is the Dune Sea. They’ve survived for thousands of years in these sands and they know the krayt dragon better than anyone else</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They are raiders, it’s true, but they also keep their word. We have struck a deal, if we are willing to leave them the carcass and its ichor they will stand by our side in battle and vow never to raise a blaster against this town until one of you breaks the peace.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din, Aili, and Cobb stared at the townsfolk of Mos Pelgo, each of them with bated breath as they waited to see what the verdict would be. Eventually each person gathered in the cantina slowly nodded their head, knowing that they didn’t have much of a choice. They needed to be rid of the krayt dragon and the Mandalorian had made a good point. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Think it’ll work?” Cobb asked as the three of them watched the townspeople get to work on gathering supplies at the mining camp. Anything they thought would help them take down the krayt dragon, from the usual weapons to certain mining equipment. Aili took notice of the multiple mining charges being pulled out which seemed like their best bet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It better work,” Aili answered bluntly in response to Cobb’s question. The only way this would happen was if everyone did what they needed to do. Otherwise the krayt dragon would more than likely kill them all and then continue terrorizing both settlements for years to come. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Joining forces is their only hope,” Din added before they walked out of the small building just in time to see the Tuskens come on their banthas. Everyone outside had stopped working to watch them, still uneasy with this new alliance. But they got over it relatively quickly, the Tuskens coming down to help load up the charges on the banthas. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything was going smoothly until one of the Tuskens closest to them accidentally dropped one the mining charges</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! What are you doing? That’s an explosive, are you trying to blow the whole place up?” One of the obviously more hotheaded townspeople shouted at the Tusken. Aili made it over to the pair quicker than Din or Cobb, pulling the man away from the Tusken and putting herself between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was an accident, you telling me that no one has </span>
  <em>
    <span>ever</span>
  </em>
  <span> accidentally dropped a charge?” Aili questioned the man, waiting for him to deny it. The odds of that happening were pretty much zero, shit happened sometimes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell do you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know a hell of lot more than you think, you ever fuck up a seismic charge drop? Because I have so when I tell you that these charges can take a little fumble, they can take a little fumble,” Aili explained, staring the man in the eye so he could see that she was being serious. When he hesitated and struggled to say anything she spoke again, “It was. An accident. Now get back to work so we can take down a krayt dragon before it eats your sorry ass.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stepped away and watched as the man fumed for a moment before turning to walk away and join the others. The Tusken stopped her before she could head back over to where Din and Cobb were, thanking her for helping calm the man down. She made sure they knew that it hadn’t been their fault, that tensions were just running high because of the coming fight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where did she learn to negotiate?” Cobb questioned, staring at the small woman who had somehow made a man almost twice her height walk away without a fight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Din replied right before Aili made it back to his side. The rest of the preparations went by without incident and soon they were all on their way to the krayt dragon’s cave. It was a little slower this time around, the bantha weighed down by not just riders but multiple mining charges.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of the Tuskens went down to the entrance of the cave, everyone else saying far behind so as to not cause too many vibrations or make too much noise. The lone Tusken lowered themselves to the ground, placing a hand on the sand and listening. As soon as he had the answer he was looking for, he got up and turned to face the rest of them sticking to signs to pass on the message. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’d he say?” Cobb asked, wishing that he knew any Tusken by this point. Relying on translations was not his idea of a fun time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He says it’s sleeping, if we listen carefully we can hear it breathing,” Din answered, loud enough for Cobb and Aili to hear since he didn’t think anyone else would care much for the translation. He raised his voice a little after, “Let’s get to work.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone started moving after that, as quickly and quietly as they could. Tying banthas to posts so they could unload the charges while others were digging trenches to bury the mining charges under the sand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Tuskens say the belly is the only weak spot so we have to hit it from below,” Din started to explain the plan to Cobb just so everyone was on the same page. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“First, we’ll bury the charges at the entrance of the cave then we have to wake it up,” Aili took over the explanation before looking over at the multiple ballistae set up, waiting to be released and hopefully enough to piss off a giant dragon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have to get it angry enough to charge. Once it’s far enough out and its belly is above the explosives, you hit the detonator,” Din finished laying out the plan as they had discussed it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of the townspeople came over to them, the detonator charged and ready to go when they were ready. “Careful Marshal,” she said as she handed it over to Cobb. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Jo. And you stay safe, huh?” Cobb told her before she nodded and walked away from them. Din turned to look at Aili knowing that he was about to piss her off with his next request. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Having second thoughts? Because it’s a little late for that,” Aili said looking up at Din when he kept staring at her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>““If we have to move any closer, I want you to stay here with the kid,” Din said, cringing behind his helmet and ready for Aili to argue with him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re joking, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ll do more damage with your rifle from a distance anyway,” Din continued, nodding down to the sniper rifle that Aili had brought with her this time around. It was just as deadly as the one that Fennec Shand had when they went to take her down. Packed more of a punch from far away and Aili knew that, she wouldn’t be able to argue against that logic. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>From next to them, Cobb tried to make it less obvious that he was listening to their argument but he wondered if this was really the time. Something like this probably could have been discussed earlier but he still couldn’t make heads or tails of the relationship between the Mandalorian and his companion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili glared up at Din, breathing in and counting to ten before letting it out slowly. They didn’t have time for this so as much as she wanted to, she would let Din have this one. But they would be having words after they took down the krayt dragon. “Fine. I’ll stay here but you better not pull anything stupid.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They went back to paying attention to the three Tuskens heading down to the entrance of the cave, listening as they gave their best war cries to wake the dragon up. It worked and as the giant dragon came out of its cave the rest of the people gathered set off the ballistae. The harpoons pierced the creature’s hide, probably not as deeply as they could be but it would have to be enough. Two of the three Tuskens made it back behind the line of ballistae, the third tripping and not being fast enough to their feet before the dragon swallowed them whole. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dank farrik, it’s going back in,” Din said, watching through his telescope. Several Tuskens tried to drag it back out using the ropes attached to the harpoons but it wasn’t doing much at all as one of the harpoons fell out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m gonna hit it,” Cobb said, getting ready to hit the detonator.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, wait,” Din held a hand out to stop Cobb from setting the charges off too soon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve got one shot here, we can’t waste it on shit timing,” Aili added, it would be a waste of their best chance of taking it down. A waste of charges when they didn’t have the time to set another trap now that they had pissed it off already. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve got to get it back out,” Din said. The townsfolk started tossing extra mining charges at the retreating dragon while anyone with a rifle started shooting at it as well, Aili included. Thankfully her rifle wasn’t too loud when she made her shots but it could still cause damage even against krayt dragon hide with its sniper bolts. She tried to aim her shots for any weak spots she could find but there weren’t many aside from its belly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not yet, it’s gotta come out further.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The dragon kept slowly advancing out of the cave, suddenly rearing up and tossing several Tuskens up into the air as it did. People wisely started to retreat just in time before the krayt dragon started to spew its venom onto anyone in the way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s disgusting,” Aili said, making a face at the green color of the venom as well as the way it ate away at anything it landed on. Several Tuskens and townspeople were caught in its path and Aili cringed knowing they’d be in pain the whole time but there was nothing they or anyone could do to help. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Almost, almost,” Din said, staring at how close it was getting to where they had buried the charges. The dragon dropped itself back down on top of the sand and Din knew that was their best shot. “Now!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cobb hit the button quickly, the charges going off underneath the dragon and it let out a deafening roar before it disappeared back under the sand. People started to slowly walk over towards the blast site, looking for signs of the krayt dragon being dead. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think it’s dead,” Cobb said, staring at the empty blast site. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think you’re right,” Aili agreed, no way the krayt dragon would be under the sand if they had actually killed it. It wouldn’t have had time to burrow itself back down, not with the number of charges they had set. It should have been dead and on the surface. They got their answer not even two seconds later as the krayt dragon broke through the top of the cliff above its cave, spewing even more venom down on everyone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rocks? It can break through the cliffs too?” Aili questioned, staring up at the dragon in shock for about half a second more before lining up another shot. It was bad enough that it could basically swim through the sand with ease but it could break through solid rock too? They really needed to take it out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s picking us off like womp rats,” Cobb almost growled out, heading for his speeder bike and pulling his rifle out. “Let’s get after it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din paused for a moment, throwing a look Aili’s way before he nodded and grabbed his own rifle. Before he could activate his jetpack, Aili called out to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Remember, nothing stupid!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili watched as the two of them took off and landed on the cliffside beside the krayt dragon, shooting it from up close. She kept timing her own shots, alternating between that and looking through the scope to make sure Din and Cobb were okay. The dragon eventually got more angry with the two men shooting it, turning to dive down into the rocks where they were. For a brief moment, Aili was tense until she saw the two of them use their jetpacks to move out of the way and back onto the ground beside the much smaller group left. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was quiet, everyone staring as the rock dust startled to settle but no one knew where the dragon was now. Aili took the chance to pull her comlink out, “Any other plans because we’re running out of charges and ammo.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Din could reply, the krayt dragon burst out from behind the group causing Aili to flinch from the surprise. She hadn’t expected it to come out from the side she was on nor was anyone else ready as they scattered and tried to stay out of the range of its mouth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve got an idea, get its attention,” Din said to Cobb, his voice still carrying through the comlink as well. Aili narrowed her eyes when Din didn’t give any more detail than that but she didn’t have time to ask what he was planning. She watched as Cobb sent off one of the missiles on his back, hitting the dragon near its head and angering it enough to turn around towards them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You still have that detonator?” Din asked Cobb who immediately handed it over to the Mandalorian.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Take it, what’s the plan?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Make sure they get back to our ship.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Din, what the kriff are you doing?” Aili wasn’t sure she had heard him correctly over the sound of screams and the very pissed off dragon heading their way. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know but wish me luck,” Din said in response to both Aili and Cobb’s questions before he used his rifle to send Cobb into the air and away from the raging dragon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get out of there now! Din!” Aili shouted into her comlink, rifle thrown to the ground as every instinct she had was in overdrive. She wouldn’t make it there in time even if she started running but that didn’t stop the thought from crossing her mind. “Din!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everything will be fine.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili didn’t even get the chance to yell at him to move again when the krayt dragon swallowed both him and the bantha he was holding onto. She barely noticed when Cobb fell to the ground beside her, the only thing she could hear was the loud pounding of her heart in her ears. She couldn’t even form a thought as she stared at the spot where the dust was beginning to settle, her breath coming out shakily whenever her body forced her to take one. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The ground started to rumble again but Aili barely noticed it, glancing over at Little Green who was staring back at her with his big, brown eyes. She had taken a single step over to the kid when the dragon burst through the ground again, this time screeching in pain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m gonna kill him,” Aili growled out when she saw Din fly out of the dragon’s mouth. He had clearly used his pulse rifle from inside the creature to drive it back above ground as well as make his way back up its throat. She watched as he set off the detonator, killing the dragon from the inside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone started cheering as they took in the site of the dead krayt dragon knowing they could all live without fear of losing another bantha or member of their settlements. Din slowly turned to look over at where Aili and Cobb were, one looking at him with an approving grin and the other having their shock slowly turn into anger. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With a deep sigh, Din started to head over to the two of them. It would be better to get this over with now rather than later. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are an absolute idiot, Mando!” Aili shouted as soon as Din was close enough to hear her. She didn’t even wait for him to catch his breath before she ran over and punched him below his beskar chest piece. He was surprised when he almost doubled over from the force of her punch but he wasn’t shocked by her anger. “Don’t do something like that again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The plan worked,” Din tried to reply only for Aili to hold her hands up to stop him from continuing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Plan?! You call that a plan? We didn’t discuss that at all!” She shouted, gesturing towards the dragon’s corpse. Sure she was ecstatic that the creature was dead now but that didn’t mean she liked the way it had finally gone down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t.Talk to me right now, it’s only going to upset me,” Aili ground out, glaring up at Din before turning to walk back to the speeder bike. She didn’t care to listen to his explanation, she was too pissed off now. Her heart still pounding from the shock turned anger. Cobb slowly walked over to Din, a grimace on his face now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, I didn’t have time to explain,” Din said, partially hoping that Aili still had her side of the comlink open. He knew she probably didn’t though, more than likely meaning it when she didn’t want to talk just yet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, man, no need. I’m not the one you’ve gotta apologize to anyway,” Cobb said, nodding his head towards where Aili was putting their supplies back on the bike she had been sharing with Mando. Din glanced back and let out another sigh knowing that Cobb was right just like Aili had every right to be pissed with him. He’d be just as mad if she had pulled the same stunt if not madder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was about to head over to the bikes when a couple of Tuskens headed his way with a huge chunk of meat. A quick exchange of words and they were heading over to the bikes to place it onto the bike, Aili staying quiet the whole time with her arms crossed over her chest. Little Green stared back and forth between them from his satchel but otherwise also staying quiet like he knew why there was a tense silence forming. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cobb slowly pulled off all of his salvaged armor, handing it over to Mando since he had more than held up his end of the bargain. “I hope our paths cross again,” he said, holding a hand out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“As do I,” Din replied, gripping Cobb’s hand for a few seconds before letting go. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh and you tell your people, I wasn’t the one who broke that,” Cobb said, pointing at the jetpack that Din had smacked with his rifle earlier. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din watched as Cobb walked away to rejoin the townspeople before he turned to look over at Aili. “Are you ready to head back?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Always am on this planet,” Aili replied, glancing over at Din cooly. She still got onto the bike sitting in front of him and Din could barely count it as a win that she didn’t sit as far away from him as possible like the first time they came to Tatooine. As they headed back for Mos Eisley, neither of them saw the man watching them in the distance.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter Five</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Din, Aili, and Little Green make their way back to Mos Eisley with less answers than they wanted but at least they made it out alive. Too bad Aili is still very upset with Din for his brilliant plan that finally took down the krayt dragon. Can they at least make it back to the Crest without anything else going wrong? </p><p>No, because this is still Tatooine and nothing goes their way on this sand covered planet.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The only sound in the desert of Tatooine was the speeder bike that Din was piloting, engine loud enough that Aili could barely hear herself think let alone listen out for Little Green if he needed anything. Maker forbid there was anyone out there, they’d be able to hear them coming from a parsec away. Not that there were ever a lot of people this far out in the middle of nowhere. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is there a reason you’re going so fast?” Aili shouted over the sound of the speeder bike’s engine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you talking to me now?” Din asked, surprised that Aili had finally broken the silence that had fallen over them. He had only been piloting the bike faster than normal so they could make it back to Mos Eisley before the suns went down again. He knew she was still angry and figured the sooner they made it back to the Crest, the sooner she could have some space to calm down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Asking you a question is not me talking to you,” Aili snapped back. Of course that was still an answer to Din’s question. She was still very mad at him but he was going fast so she also couldn’t ignore that for much longer. They had made good time from where they had taken down the krayt dragon but as impressive as that was, it wasn’t exactly safe piloting. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before Din could reply the speeder hit something and tipped over, sending them all flying through the air. Little Green and Aili landed on the sand roughly while Din struggled to quickly use his jetpack in order to land on his feet. The speeder bike was a lost cause, bits and pieces hitting the ground and at least one part exploding on impact. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get the child!” A rough voice called out, one that Aili didn’t recognize at all which spurred her into action. She didn’t know where Little Green was or where Din was which meant she had to move quickly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili pushed herself off the ground as fast as the sand beneath her hands would let her. Kriff, she really hated sand. And just Tatooine in general. They had yet to not have something ridiculous happen to them on this planet, concussions and getting swallowed whole by Krayt Dragons and now this…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once she was talking to Din again, she was going to convince him that they needed a whole year before they so much as came </span>
  <em>
    <span>near</span>
  </em>
  <span> Tatooine again. They could holo-call Peli from wherever if they needed help with an easy ship maintenance question. But right now, the only sand Aili ever wanted to see should be attached to an ocean of water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were only three raiders that she could see, two near her and one by Din who he was already fighting. The two by her seemed to not realize that she was the one they should be focused on at the moment. She took advantage of their distraction and kicked one square in the back, sending him onto the ground. The other one spun around to face her, ready to fight now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tried to throw a punch her way but Aili grabbed his arm, pulling it across his chest before she spun around to use her own shoulder as leverage to flip the guy onto his back. His head hit the sand hard and he was knocked out. By now the first guy she had knocked down was back up and tried to bring his blaster up to shoot her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili leveled another kick, high enough to knock the blaster out of his grasp. Before he had time to process the loss of his blaster, Aili jumped up, bringing her legs up onto his shoulders to bring him back onto the sand. Kneeling over him now, she gave him a quick punch to the face to knock him out of the fight. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>By now Din had already knocked out the one raider near him, using his whipcord to pull the other one’s rifle out of their hands as well. Aili figured that would be the end of it now that there was only a single raider left against an angry Mandalorian and his companion that took down two others in short order. Which is why she was surprised when the last raider decided to pull the stupidest stunt they could at the moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, don’t hurt him,” Din said, holding his hands up in surrender. Aili glanced over and saw the raider holding Little Green, a knife in hand and at the child’s throat. She almost brought a hand up to the side of her head when she felt a sharp pain but she shook it away as fast as she could before she slowly started to move. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you harm him, there’s no place you will be able to hide,” Din continued to stall the alien, hoping he could convince the raider to put Little Green down and cut his losses. Din kept talking but Aili wasn’t paying much attention to what he was saying, too focused on sneaking behind the raider without him noticing. Quite dumb on their part, not paying attention to where both targets were at all times. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As soon as she was behind the raider, she aimed her blaster and fired. They dropped to the ground, Little Green slipping from their grasp and rolling forward on the sand before he sat up in slight confusion. From behind his helmet Din stared at Aili in shock, not surprised that she would shoot someone holding Little Green hostage but that she would from behind where she didn’t have a clear view of the kid. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Aili asked when she noticed Din just staring at her as she put her blaster back into its holster. She stepped over the raider’s body to scoop Little Green up from the ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you...okay?" Din slowly asked, still reeling from watching Aili take down the raider before they had a chance to so much as make a request. Even Little Green who always seemed a little too giddy when they were in the middle of a fight was quiet staring up at Aili. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm tired, my head hurts, and I’m still very pissed off at you. And now, we are in the middle of the desert with no speeder bike. Do I seem okay?" Aili asked back, raising an eyebrow in Din’s direction. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You said you’d tell me if it got bad again,” Din took a step towards her, not exactly sure how he’d be able to help now that half of their supplies were scattered throughout the sand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Still mad at you and it’s just the suns.” Aili wasn’t sure why Din was so worried about her headaches, they weren’t even that bad. Probably brought on by a combination of the suns beating down on them for hours along with not drinking enough water. The fact that this one had brought...Aili shook the thought away before she even finished it. She was just tired and not looking forward to the walk they now had to deal with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din stared at Aili for a moment longer, trying to not make it obvious that he was scanning her to make sure she wasn’t lying. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary other than her heart rate being slightly elevated. But that could have been from the adrenaline of taking down the raiders or even just being tossed through the air when the speeder bike hit the rope. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you scanning me?” Aili questioned, tilting her head when Din had been quiet for too long while looking in her direction.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Din said too quickly for it to be believable and he winced knowing that Aili would pick up on that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was a terrible lie but I’ll let it slide this time. We need to get going </span>
  <em>
    <span>before</span>
  </em>
  <span> the suns set or more raiders head this way.” Aili didn’t wait for Din to say anything as she started walking towards the remains of the speeder bike. Might as well see what could be salvaged. Din let out a sigh knowing that this was going to be a very long day now and he had just made it worse by scanning her and lying about it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thankfully Little Green’s satchel had made it through the chaos and Aili was quick to place him in it and put the strap over her head. That was one less thing that would need to be carried at least. Her sniper rifle had also survived and she let out a sigh of relief before throwing the strap of that over her other shoulder as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili stared at Din who was apparently planning to carry everything other than her and Little Green. But somehow </span>
  <em>
    <span>she</span>
  </em>
  <span> was the crazy one? “Din, just give me something else to carry before you hurt yourself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you’ve already got Little Green and your rifle,” Din replied, tying the chunk of dragon meat onto one side of the handle of the speeder bike. The armor he had gotten from Cobb was on the other side along with both of their bags of supplies. What Din left unsaid was that he didn’t want to give Aili too much to carry just in case it made her headache worse with all of the walking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The walk through the desert was worse than when they had still had the speeder bike. Still quiet and filled with too much thinking. Din worrying about Aili’s recent headaches and Aili’s thoughts split between their attempts to find more Mandalorians and her headache that was still throbbing between her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took them hours to make it back to the outskirts of Mos Eisley and the suns had already been set for at least an hour or two by the time they made it into the actual town. Aili’s headache had faded by then furthering her conviction that it was just the suns making it hurt in the first place. They headed straight to the cantina, both of them knowing that’s where Peli would more than likely be. They weren’t wrong as she was sitting towards the back playing a game of sabacc with Dr. Mandible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glanced up at them and made a face at how they looked before he gaze went down to the armor that they had gotten from Cobb. “You finally found another Mandalorian and you killed him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He wasn’t Mandalorian. I bought this armor off him though,” Din replied causing Aili to let out a scoff. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that what we’re calling it now?” Aili asked, making a face at the very simplified version of events that Din was apparently going to give Peli.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What am I missing? What did you do?” Peli questioned Din, ready to smack some sense into the man if he had done something crazy. She knew the two of them well enough by now to tell that there was tension between them. She wasn’t going to mention it in a crowded cantina though. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Killed a krayt dragon for him,” Din said before Aili could open her mouth again. He could just imagine how she would answer Peli’s question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh. Is that all?” Peli said, full sarcasm in her voice. Now she really wasn’t going to ask for specifics in the cantina. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He was our last lead on finding other Mandalorians.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dr. Mandible started speaking rapidly in his language, one that neither Din or Aili knew but it seemed Peli did. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well you might be in luck, Dr. Mandible says he can connect you with someone who can help you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s the catch?” Aili asked knowing that there had to be one. They didn’t even know the alien sitting across from Peli and this was still Tatooine. No one gave up information for free. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you can cover his call this round. It’s what he said,” Peli said, holding her hands up a little without revealing her cards to anyone. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s the bet?” Din asked warily, knowing Peli it wasn’t going to be a low-ball game but he was hoping for maybe 250 max.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Five-hundred.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s a high-stakes game,” Din said bluntly. He had the credits but that was a lot to lay down on a game he wasn’t even playing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, he’s on a hot-streak,” Peli said a little too nonchalantly for Aili’s taste. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din glanced over at Aili who looked back at him and shrugged before giving her answer. “Do we really have a choice?” He let out a sigh before pulling the credits out and tossing them onto the table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is the pot right?” Peli asked, barely waiting for Dr. Mandible to confirm before she let out a loud laugh. “Idiot’s Array! Pay up, thorax!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you said he was on a hot streak?” Din questioned incredulously. Peli had played him and was now 500 credits richer apart from the credits he was still going to owe her for any repairs she made to the Crest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, stop your crying, you’ll rust,” Peli said, glancing over at the alien who was speaking once more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He says the contact will rendezvous at the hangar. They’ll tell you where to find some Mandalorians, that’s what you wanted right?” Peli raised her brow, waiting to see if Din was going to attempt to continue arguing about the game or not. Aili nudged Din in the side when he stayed quiet for a second too long. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“All right, well, quit your mopin’! More importantly did you bring back any of that dragon meat? But it better not have any maggots on it, I don’t like maggots,” Peli led them out of the cantina and towards her hangar bay. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Back at Peli’s she was quick to get one of her droids to start cooking up the dragon meat before she stepped out to meet with Dr. Mandible’s contact. Little Green sat near the droid, watching the meat cook with hunger in his eyes. Aili and Din stood beside each other, still quiet with awkward tension and now simmering anger between them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey don’t overcook it, Treadwell! I like it medium rare, I’m not some Rodian for cryin’ out loud,” Peli exclaimed when she walked back inside and over to Din and Aili. “So here’s the deal, a Mandalorian covert is close. It’s in this sector, one system trailing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are they the ones that left Nevarro?” Din questioned. Both he and Aili had decided that it would be better to pretend that they hadn’t seen the covert or what was left of it since Nevarro. There was no telling what information was out there and neither wanted to mention Oshriya to anyone else just in case.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t know. All I know is that the contact will lead you to them,” Peli replied. The contact hadn’t had that much information, just that there were Mandalorians close by. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How much will this cost us?” Din asked, wary of another 500 credit or more loss. They weren’t exactly picking up enough jobs to keep covering losses like that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, that’s the great news. It’s free aside from the finder’s fee, of course,” Peli answered. She meant the money she had won off Dr. Mandible so that was something at least. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Free? What’s the catch this time?” Aili said slowly. There was always a catch even when someone said there wasn’t. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing, it’s all great news.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Peli…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay so there is one small skank in the scud pie,” Peli gave in knowing that she had been caught in her small omission of the truth. She should have known better than to try to pull one over on Aili who was more observant than Mando most of the time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Which is?” Din asked already wary of what Peli was going to say next.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The contact wants passage to the system.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you vouch for them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“On my life,” Peli answered a little too quickly. Aili narrowed her eyes in suspicion, there was definitely something Peli wasn’t telling them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And…” Peli trailed off knowing this was going to be a potential deal breaker. But she also knew that they didn’t have much of a choice if they really wanted to find other Mandalorians. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here it comes,” Aili muttered to herself. She had known there was going to be a catch of some sort.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No hyperdrive.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You want us to travel sublight? Deal’s off.” Din said looking over at Peli in a way that everyone there could tell what kind of look he was giving her from behind the helmet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s one sector over,” Peli challenged. Sublight was a terrible way to travel nowadays but the contact had been very clear about her request. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Moving fast is the only thing keeping us safe,” Din said, his voice tense now. Sure they didn’t have bounty hunters after them anymore now that they were technically back in the Guild but that didn’t mean they were safe from others looking for them. Looking for Little Green or Aili or even the Mandalorian who took down Moff Gideon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“These are mitigating circumstances</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean “mitigating?”” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The contact that they were talking about finally walked into the hangar. A female of some Frog species that neither Din nor Aili knew the name of. She was carrying a canister of some sort on her back that they couldn’t clearly see aside from a faint blue glow. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not a taxi service,” Din said, putting his hands on his hips. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, I know. I hear you but I can vouch for her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din let out a sigh. “What’s the cargo?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Peli turned to the Frog Lady and they exchanged a good amount of words in whatever language it was her species used. It was not one that Din or Aili knew at all which was saying something since between the two of them they knew quite a good amount of non-Basic languages. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s her spawn. She needs her eggs fertilized by the equinox or her line will end. If you jump into hyperspace, they’ll die,” Peli explained once she was done speaking to the Frog Lady. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hope you’re about to mention a husband because as </span>
  <em>
    <span>hilarious</span>
  </em>
  <span> as the idea of this one needing to, um, fertilize eggs is…” Aili trailed off, a smirk on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Peli let out a snort of laughter before continuing. “He’s definitely not her type. She says her husband has settled on the estuary moon of Trask in the system of the gas giant Kol Iben.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She said all that?” Din asked. It had seemed like a much shorter conversation than that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I paraphrased.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“As long as you didn’t leave out any information,” Aili said, tilting her head slightly. She knew that Peli had a habit of doing that sometimes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Frog Lady didn’t wait by their side for much longer, heading for the ship now that it was obvious that they were going to take her to Trask. Little Green followed after her, a fact that Aili took note of with suspicion. She would have to keep an eye on him, make sure he didn’t do anything he shouldn’t do while the Frog Lady was onboard the ship. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is she sure there are Mandalorians there?” Din questioned. He would take her to Trask regardless now that she was on the ship but he needed to know that it wouldn’t be nearly as useless as heading out to Mos Pelgo. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She said her husband has seen them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you know the husband?” Aili asked, still wondering how Peli knew the Frog Lady well enough to vouch for her but hadn’t known she had information on a Mandalorian covert. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. I just met her ten minutes before you walked in,” Peli said simply. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Peli!” Aili exclaimed, only partially surprised by the revelation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you said you’d vouch for her on your life,” Din said before Aili could go off on the woman, not that her tone said she would. Aili was more than likely still reserving most of her anger for him anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What can I say, I’m an excellent judge of character,” Peli said, taking a slice of meat that Treadwell offered to her on a platter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can we at least take some of the dragon meat to go? </span>
  <em>
    <span>Someone</span>
  </em>
  <span>, not naming names, did nearly stupidly die to take it down,” Aili requested. They would need food if they were going to have to travel sublight which took longer even if they were only going one sector over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh so that’s the problem here. Yeah take some, it’s a little overcooked anyway.” Peli had just known that Mando had done something stupid to piss off Aili. Sure they were still standing next to each other but she had been able to sense the tension from the moment they walked into the cantina and she had doubted it was simply because of the speeder bike. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once they had a good amount of meat carved up, Din and Aili headed onto the ship where the Frog Lady and Little Green were waiting for them. Aili put the meat away quickly, reminding herself to feed Little Green soon, and they all headed up into the cockpit to get ready to leave Tatooine’s atmo. As they left, Aili really hoped they wouldn’t be back for at least a month or two just to give her a break from all the sand.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter Six</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Din and Aili finally kiss and make-up (minus the kissing because helmet) and then they have time to catch up on about half the sleep they need. Too bad it gets interrupted by New Republic pilots asking for the Crest's identification followed by an impromptu pit stop onto an ice planet.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Now, I’m going to ask you to stay strapped in whenever you’re seated. Travelling sublight is a bit..dicey these days. Whether it’s pirates or warlords, someone either winds up with a nice chunk of change or your ship,” Din tried to explain to the Frog Lady.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think she speaks Basic,” Aili commented, noticing that the Frog Lady didn’t seem to be paying much attention to what Din was saying. Then again she was also barely paying attention to what he was saying too. As if to reiterate Aili’s point, the Frog Lady began to say something in her language causing Din to glance back at her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t speak whatever language that is. Do you speak Huttese?” Din asked the woman before following up with a question in said language. All that got him was a slow blink from the Frog Lady. Din let out a long sigh, flipping one of the switches above him knowing this was going to be a long flight. On one side of him was the Frog Lady who didn’t speak Basic at all and on the other side was Aili who just wasn’t speaking to him unless it was to make a sarcastic comment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where’s Little Green?” Aili suddenly asked, looking around the cockpit for the small child. She knew he was on the ship, had seen him follow after the Frog Lady back on Tatooine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you had him,” Din replied, glancing back at Aili just in time to see the look she aimed his way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Obviously not,” Aili barely held back from snapping at Din. She let out a sigh in an attempt to calm herself down. “He’s probably down in the cargo hold, I’ll go get him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was gone before Din could say anything else. The Frog Lady said something in her language and Din let out another long sigh, leaning his helmet against the back of his seat. He finally settled for setting their course, wincing when he saw just how long it would take. But maybe this would give him time to talk to Aili about the krayt dragon and hopefully he wouldn’t say anything stupid that would upset her more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve set the nav for our course, it’s gonna take a while. I recommend you get some rest,” he said to the Frog Lady still hoping that maybe she knew the smallest amount of Basic. He also just thought it would be rude for him to ignore her and leave the cockpit without saying anything. Outside the door he paused for a moment, trying to gauge exactly how upset Aili had still seemed and knowing that having to walk back to Mos Eisley hadn’t helped at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually he made the decision to head down the ladder and just hope that Aili was calm enough to talk now. He still wanted to ask her about her recent headaches and make sure she wasn’t keeping anything else from him. Once he was down in the cargo hold, it didn’t take long to spot where Aili was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nap time?” Din questioned, watching as Aili rocked from side to side as she whispered something to Little Green with a furrowed brow. If he didn’t know any better he would think that she was scolding the kid but she usually had more patience with him than Din did. He couldn’t even recall the last time she had been upset with Little Green. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili looked up at Din, brow still furrowed as she glanced around the room. “Where’s the Frog Lady?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Up in the cockpit, why are you whispering?” Din asked, a little surprised that she was talking to him now. Although like she had said earlier, asking him a question wasn’t exactly talking to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He ate one of her eggs,” Aili answered, still keeping her voice low because they still didn’t really know if the Frog Lady understood any Basic. She didn’t want to take the chance at the moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Din was really hoping that he had heard her wrong or that she was joking but he knew she wouldn’t joke about something like that. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You heard me. I came down here and he had his little hand in there and pulled out an egg, ate it while staring me in the eyes,” Aili explained, still rocking from side to side. Din wondered if she had noticed that she was doing it but he figured she didn’t just like she hadn’t noticed that Little Green had fallen asleep by now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll keep an eye on him when he wakes up,” Din said. They couldn’t afford to have the Frog Lady notice that anything was wrong with her eggs and he hoped she wouldn’t notice one egg missing. Aili finally realized that Little Green was asleep and she placed him in his little hammock in the cot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can we talk?” Din asked once Aili turned back around, keeping his tone neutral. She looked at him, face blank as she looked him up and down before she walked over to the ‘fresher. Din let out a sigh when he heard water running and assumed that was her way of telling him no. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your armor looks disgusting,” Aili said, coming out of the ‘fresher and towards Din with two wet washcloths. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” That had not been what Din was expecting Aili to say at all. He stared in confusion when she handed one of the cloths to him before gesturing for him to sit down. He did as she asked but he was still confused, brow furrowed behind his helmet even when Aili kneeled beside him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You heard me, your armor is still covered in krayt dragon vomit,” Aili said bluntly before wrinkling her nose the closer she got to him. “I’m surprised the Frog Lady didn’t take one look at you and decide she could wait for a better taxi service.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din was still silent as Aili began to wash away the gunk that he had almost forgotten was covering his armor. She paused for a moment before giving him a pointed look, gesturing for him to help her clean his armor as well. He didn’t wait another moment before he started to scrub away at the green covering the beskar on his thighs while Aili was cleaning his chest plate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you still mad at me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m helping you clean your armor, what do you think?” Aili asked back as she got to work on Din’s helmet, being careful not to use too much force. There was no way she’d let him bring that thing anywhere near her face until it was clean and with the number of times he brought his forehead to hers, that helmet needed to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>clean</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Actually now that she thought about it, his cape had to get switched out for a clean one as soon as possible too. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That I don’t know what goes on in that head of yours sometimes,” Din said, placing his used washcloth to the side once he was sure that he had gotten all the gunk off his thigh armor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s funny coming from you,” Aili snapped back, the way she gently rapped her fingers against the top of Din’s now clean helmet revealing her lack of any real anger. “You need to change your cape too, I’m not even sure that vomit will come out now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” Din said as he started to remove his cape. Aili was probably right about this particular cape being a lost cause, the green stains had been settling in for hours now and had stained the cape green. He’d try to clean it later but for now he folded it up and set it off to the side.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili looked straight into Din’s t-visor, an unreadable expression on her face but the look in her eyes spoke volumes. “Don’t say you’re sorry and don’t promise you won’t do something that stupid again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She knew Din well enough by now to not expect him to never pull another crazy stunt. Both of them had their moments but by far, he pulled the crazier ones which was saying something. She may have been raised to take risks if it got the job done but Din took it to another level with the training he went through with the Mandalorians. He was taught to sacrifice himself if it meant saving others while it was drilled into her brain to sacrifice anyone in order to stay alive for the next mission. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do promise to not do something like that again though,” Din said, hoping he could get the point across to Aili that he meant what he was saying. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I doubt we’ll ever have to fight a krayt dragon again so…” Aili trailed off lowering her hands down to her lap. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know what I mean.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t,” Aili paused, hand tightening around her washcloth as she lowered her gaze to her lap. She still struggled to talk about things like this, not liking feeling so vulnerable even around Din. “You can’t do something like that again, I can’t lose anyone else.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You won’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t know that. We could find Little Green’s people tomorrow or the New Republic could be waiting anywhere to haul me away.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We don’t know that they’re looking for you,” Din tried to rationalize. They had this conversation more than once and neither of them could convince the other. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who else could they have been looking for on Oshriya? Anyone else and the girls wouldn’t have panicked and packed up. It’s not like we were exactly quiet during the shitstorm on Nevarro,” Aili exclaimed, keeping her voice hushed so she didn’t accidentally wake up Little Green. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Din reached out and placed his hands over Aili’s, partially to stop her from wringing the cloth in half and partially to give her some comfort. “It’s not your fault they left, maybe they saw something else that worried them when they were questioned.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like what?” Aili knew what Din was trying to do, trying to make her feel less guilty about the fact that half their clan was scattered to the wind. They hadn’t heard anything from them in months now, not since the holocall they got saying they were leaving Oshriya. But she couldn’t help feeling like it had something to do with her and her more than checkered past. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know but trying to figure it out is going to drive you crazy and that won’t help anyone. Come on, you need sleep too,” Din said after a moment, standing up and holding a hand out for Aili to take so he could help her up. He figured he could wait until they reached Trask to ask about her recent headaches. Maybe when the bags under her eyes were less pronounced as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm fine," Aili said even as she let herself be led over to the cot. Din climbed in first like usual and then being as careful as she could Aili climbed in after. She settled down on top of Din, nuzzling her face in the crook of his neck beneath his helmet taking advantage of the fact that he hadn’t replaced his cape just yet. “We really need to figure out a different bed situation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When we get to Trask, now go to sleep,” Din said although he knew Aili was right. They did need to come up with a different sleeping arrangement because the cot was not meant for more than one person. It was barely big enough for him on his own to be comfortable and when they shared it, they couldn’t even shut the hatch. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It didn’t take long for either of them to fall asleep, both of them exhausted from the long walk back to Mos Eisley. They had only been asleep for maybe a couple of hours when a loud beeping startled them both awake. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Proximity alert?” Aili questioned as she stumbled out of the hatch blinking the sleep out of her eyes. Din climbed out next and although he was hardly more awake than Aili he still had the enough brain power going to close the hatch behind him so Little Green could keep sleeping. And stay out of trouble for at least as long as it took them to deal with the alert.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, we’re being hailed,” Din said, rushing up the ladder to see who it was. He hoped it wasn’t pirates attempting to appear non-threatening. Somehow the Frog Lady was still sleeping despite the loud beeping and flashing red light. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Razor Crest, M-One-Eleven. Come in Razor Crest, do you copy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh kriff,” Aili muttered to herself when she caught sight of the two X-Wings flanking them. Din glanced back at her for half a second before he turned back to answer the hail before he kept them waiting too long. Who knew how long they had already been hailing them without an answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is Razor Crest. Is there a problem?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We noticed your transponder is not emitting,” the New Republic pilot said. There was nothing in their voice that said they were overly suspicious but that wasn’t going to ease any of Din or Aili’s worries.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I’m pre-Empire surplus. I’m not required to run a beacon,” Din explained hoping that would be an acceptable answer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a short pause before the pilot spoke again, “That was before. This sector is under New Republic jurisdiction, all craft are required to run a beacon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you for letting me know. I’ll get right on it.” Din cursed to himself. This was why he hated traveling sublight. If it wasn’t pirates or warlords it was the New Republic and their jurisdictions and rules that he didn’t want to deal with. It was the whole reason he stuck to the Outer Rim in the first place other than it being where the covert had been. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not a problem. Safe travels.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“May the Force be with you,” Din said awkwardly. He didn’t even know what that phrase meant but Peli said it often enough that he figured it would be the thing to say here. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And also with you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was a long moment of silence, Aili barely breathing when she noticed that the X-Wings had yet to leave their side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just one more thing,” the pilot suddenly said, reopening the comlink just when Din was about to let out a sigh of relief. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes?” Din questioned slowly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to need you to send us a ping,” the pilot said. “We’re out here sweeping for any Imperial holdouts.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll let you know if I see any,” Din replied. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m still gonna need you to send us that ping,” the pilot was clearly less than amused by Din’s comment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I’m not sure I have that hardware online.” Din cringed behind his helmet knowing just how flimsy of an excuse that was. It wasn’t exactly hardware that would be difficult to bring online.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can wait.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din turned to catch Aili’s eye who frantically shook her head. Sending a ping was the last thing they wanted to do, too many red flags from the prison ship to Nevarro during the siege to Oshriya right before the New Republic sent people to ask questions. Any number of those locations would put the pilots on high alert.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I...doesn’t seem to be working.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s too bad. If we can’t confirm you’re not Imperial, you’re going to have to follow us to the outpost on Adelphi. They’ll run your tabs,” the pilot was no longer giving them a real choice in the matter. They either needed to send a ping or run the risk of landing at the outpost and having New Republic soldiers board their ship.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh wait, there it is. Transmitting now,” Din flipped the switch that would send out a ping to the X-Wings, wincing as he did. From behind him, Aili leaned her head back and let it thump against the top of her seat. Of course that was when the Frog Lady decided to wake up making more noise than they needed at the moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Be quiet!” Din tried to shush her as quietly as he could. They didn’t need the pilots knowing there was more than one person in the cockpit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, nothing. The hypervac is drawing off the exhaust manifold.” It was another crap excuse but it was the first thing that Din could think of and he hoped they would go for it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Carson, can you switch over to channel two?” The other pilot speaking up suddenly made both Din and Aili freeze in their seats. That was never a good thing. It either meant they just got a distress call or they saw something they didn’t like on the ping. Aili was willing to bet it was the latter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Copy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re fucked,” Aili harshly whispered to Din.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everything is fine,” Din whispered back despite knowing she was more than likely right. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was your craft in the proximity of New Republic Correctional Transport, Bothan-Five?” The first pilot, Carson, asked as soon as he flipped back to the channel he had open with the Crest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hold on,” Din said before suddenly banking the ship towards the closest planet. Aili barely had time to grab onto the straps of her seat, nearly falling to the floor from the speed Din was maintaining even as they broke through the planet’s atmo. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Razor Crest, stand down. We will fire. I repeat, we will fire,” Carson tried to hail them into stopping. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili struggled to hold onto her seat, Din making too many quick banks for her to so much as attempt to strap in. “Please tell me you have a plan,” she exclaimed. “Or am I going to have to take over again?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Rather than responding to her, Din pulled the ship into a nosedive down through the clouds. The Frog Lady was shouting now but he ignored that. He was hoping that he could lose the X-Wings that way but he wasn’t exactly optimistic. He did know that he needed to see the terrain of the planet they were on, maybe there would be somewhere big enough to pull the Crest under in order to hide them from view. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>As soon as they cleared the clouds they could see the planet was icy and there was a canyon right in front of them. Din ran through their options quickly before making a decision. “Canyon’s our best bet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Canyon makes us an easy target,” Aili shot back. X-Wings had excellent targeting systems and being confined in a canyon would make it easy for them to aim at the Crest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s our only option.” Din pulled them down into the canyon, trying his best to keep the ship away from the icy walls as well as the bottom which was more spiked than he had expected. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh for fucks sake.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on Razor Crest, don’t make us do it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Din, just--”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No. Hold on.” He didn’t give Aili a chance to even finish whatever she was going to say when he spotted an opening barely big enough to pull the Crest through. He cut the turn a little short, feeling the collision but no warnings went off so he kept going. The Crest bounced off the surface before sliding across the icy ground and Din was just able to pull it into a stop under a rock shelf. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve lost visual. He’s gotta be around here somewhere,” one of the pilots said over the still open channel. It was staticky making it hard to tell which pilot was speaking. “You head North, we’ll cover more ground.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m gonna go check on Little Green,” Aili said, quickly getting up from her seat. “I’m sure he found that more than fun.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili was out of the cockpit and down in the cargo hold before Din could ask her to check for any damage. He knew she’d let him know about any issues as soon as she came back up so he wasn’t too worried about that. They had maybe a minute of calm, Din turning in his chair to make sure the Frog Lady was okay. She seemed fine if not a little shaken from the whole ordeal as she unstrapped from her seat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din had time to check over a couple of things, making sure the Crest hadn’t taken on too much damage. He wanted to be out of there before the X-Wings circled back around. If they were lucky they could be back through the atmo before then. He had just made a move to check another control when there was a loud cracking sound from outside, loud enough that he could hear it from inside. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And then they were falling through the ice.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter Seven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Razor Crest crash landed in an ice cavern and now they're stuck there unless they can make repairs. Of course nothing is ever simple when it comes to Aili and Din's luck because they're not alone in the ice cave and Little Green is good at causing trouble without meaning to.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Din let out a groan as he slowly came to. Once he was more aware and remembered exactly what had just happened he shot out of his seat. Aili had gone down to the cargo hold to check on Little Green and then the ground had given out beneath them. The Frog Lady was on the ground behind him, shivering in the still dropping temperature and Din let out a quiet curse under his breath. He moved to help her up and back into her seat, waking her up and causing her to let out distressed noises in her language. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll find your eggs, don’t worry. Gotta get you some blankets, keep you warm,” Din said before he rushed out of the cockpit. He assumed that’s what she had been talking about anyway, unsure she would be worried about anything else. He slid down the ladder, the sound of the wind rushing through the Crest not a comforting sound in the slightest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The cargo hold was a wreck, there was a giant hole in the side of the ship; wind and snow coming in through it. There was a layer of frost covering everything and Din wondered just how long he had been out after the fall. He hadn’t even noticed the thin layer of ice on his own armor until that moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Damn it,” Din said to himself when he couldn’t immediately spot Aili or Little Green. He turned around and hit the control to open the cot hoping that they were in there, it would have offered some protection from the cold wind. When the hatch opened, he let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Aili had made it inside and was holding Little Green who was wrapped up in his blanket. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you two okay?” Din asked but then Frog Lady said something from above and he looked back up. “Hang on, I’m looking for your eggs!” He turned around once again to try to see if he could find the Frog Lady’s egg canister. He hoped she had gotten one that could handle a rough landing like the one they had just endured. He stepped over multiple crates looking for the canister and he lifted up a near empty bag, relieved to find the egg canister beneath it and in one piece. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Frog Lady called down from the cockpit and it took everything in Din to not get annoyed with the continued language barrier. “Found them!” He called up to the woman before he looked back at Aili who still hadn’t answered his earlier question. “Aili.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Aili replied slowly, blinking a couple of times like she hadn’t even realized Din was there which she hadn’t. She had been...distracted. Little Green let out a quiet coo, his gaze now on the egg canister in Din’s hands but he couldn’t get out of the hold that Aili had on him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you okay?” Din asked again, tilting his helmet to the side as he looked her over to make sure she was okay. She looked fine but he had thought that and been wrong before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be? I mean aside from your less than stellar flying,” Aili quipped, nodding her head towards the hole in the hull of the Crest. “That was there </span>
  <em>
    <span>before</span>
  </em>
  <span> we fell through the ground.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din stared at her for a long moment trying to decide what he could say that wouldn’t sound overbearing or too worried. He wasn’t able to say anything when the Frog Lady called out again and he let out a muttered curse. “I have your eggs, you should come on down!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I should get this one something to eat before he tries to steal any more eggs,” Aili said as she scooted out of the hatch, Little Green still firmly in her grasp. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How many did he eat?” Din whispered to her as she moved past him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think I know? He got at least one more before I came down,” Aili answered. “Lucky I was able to shut it before the ice cracked or they’d be everywhere right now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din froze. “Wait, you weren’t in the cot when we fell through the ice?” He took advantage of her distraction to look Aili up and down to see if she was hiding any injuries from him. A quick scan let him know that she was fine apart from a small bump to the head but it was so minor that he almost didn’t notice it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili paused for a moment, tilting her head to the side like she was trying to remember something. “No, I remember shutting the canister and then next thing I know I’m waking up on the floor, freezing cold with Little Green all huddled beside me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why didn’t you come back up to the cockpit?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was more concerned with getting Little Green warm,” Aili replied, pursing her lips in annoyance and shooting Din a look she hadn’t given him since they were back on Sorgan. “Is there something you want to ask me without actually asking?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Frog Lady came down the ladder before Din could reply to Aili and she frantically reached out for the canister containing her eggs. Once Din’s hands were free, Aili was quick to hand him Little Green so she could get them all something to eat. They had been out for who knows how long and the kid was still eyeing the eggs a little too much for either Din or Aili’s comfort.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The two of them got busy, Aili getting plates of food for everyone but Din who wouldn’t be able to eat unless he went back up to the cockpit and Din pulling out any extra blankets they had on the ship. They didn’t have many of those but there were enough to hand one to the Frog Lady and the ones they usually used for themselves plus the one Aili had given to Little Green back when she first came onto the ship. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din was also able to find a small space heater that he had forgotten that he even had or maybe Aili had made him buy it on some planet they stopped on. He couldn’t remember if he was being honest but he quickly set it up in an attempt to at least warm up the space around them. He also decided to try to block out the wind using his one still dirty cape like a curtain. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you hadn’t guessed, we’re in a tight spot,” Din said to the Frog Lady despite knowing that anything he was saying to her wasn’t going to be acknowledged. “The main power drive is not responding and the hull has lost its integrity.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s putting it mildly,” Aili added, sitting on a crate between Little Green and the canister of the Frog Lady’s eggs. She didn’t think he would try anything while they were all there but she also knew how sneaky he was when he wanted to be. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suspect the temperature will drop significantly when night falls,” Din kept talking like he hadn’t heard Aili’s comment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili glanced over at Little Green who was still staring up at the egg canister rather than eating his food. “Don’t even think about it,” she whispered to him before gesturing to his plate. “Eat your food.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll have a better idea of our prospects at that time,” Din finished saying as he sat down, leaning against a part of the ship that was at least a little sheltered from the cold wind still seeping in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Frog Lady let out a distressed sounding speech, pointing at the canister which had fluctuating levels being shown. Aili could only assume that it had something to do with the dropping temperature but she couldn’t think of anything else they could do at the moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, lady, I don’t understand Frog. Whatever it is, it can wait until morning. I suggest you get some sleep.” Din said, crossing his arms over his chest in an attempt to warm himself up a little. It wasn’t easy with his armor still on but he managed. The Frog Lady let out a quiet whimper, pulling her own blanket from her shoulders and draping it over the egg canister.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Aili asked, getting annoyed as she felt both Din and the Frog Lady staring at her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Aren't you cold?” Din questioned as he continued to stare at Aili who hadn’t moved from the crate she had been sharing with Little Green as he ate. Little Green who had already slid down from the crate and was attempting to snuggle under the blanket and halfway up Din’s side. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, I've been in worse places with less shelter. Do you know how cold Hoth gets?” The Frog Lady let out a sound of distress. “See, she gets it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just get over here and get under the blanket,” Din said bluntly, the last thing they needed was for Aili to end up with frostbite because she had been trained to ignore things like that. Eventually he would be able to get her to understand that she was no longer on her own and didn’t have to keep doing things like that. It was admittedly something he was still working on himself but he had at  least been raised to work together with other Mandalorians.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why? Are you cold?” Aili asked with a sly smile on her face. She could just about imagine the warmth spreading across Din’s face when he paused for a second too long.. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just get over here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine.” Aili pretended to be annoyed as she walked over, picking up Little Green to hold him in her arms before she plopped down on Din’s lap. Purely for the extra warmth and not to be a little annoying at all. And definitely not so Din would have no choice but to move his arms to wrap around her instead. “You know both me and the kid would be warmer if we weren’t lying against cold armor.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The armor stays on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Careful Din, you know what else happens when you keep that armor on,” Aili kept her voice as low as possible, a smirk playing at her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go. To. Sleep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m just teasing,” Aili said, adjusting herself so she and Little Green would be more comfortable laying against Din. She nuzzled her face into the space between the bottom of his helmet and his neck, hugging Little Green closer to make sure he was warm. She felt Din shudder, not from the cold this time, and she grinned to herself before she let herself fall asleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wake up, Mandalorian. This cannot wait until morning.” A voice that neither Din or Aili had ever wanted to hear again brought them both out of sleep quickly. Din pulled his blaster out with one hand, the other arm wrapping itself tighter around Aili in an attempt to protect her and Little Green.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the kriff?” Aili knew they should have gotten rid of that droid’s body or at the very least sold it for parts. She didn’t know why they had decided to keep a reminder of the prison break that had been such a clusterfuck, emphasis on the fuck in more ways than one. There was no way it had come online by itself though, not with where she had shot it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do not be alarmed. I bypassed the droid’s security protocols and accessed its vocabulator,” the Frog Lady said, her words being understood for the first time since she had come on board. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is not unsettling at all,” Aili said even though she was impressed with the Frog Lady’s tech skills. Hearing Zero’s voice was still not something she wanted to keep listening to though. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What the hell are you doing? That droid is a killer,” Din said angrily pointing at the Frog Lady. He was getting used to not thinking of all droids as the enemy but Zero would never be one of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“These eggs are the last brood of my life cycle. My husband has risked his life to carve out an existence for us on the only planet that is hospitable to our species. We fought too hard and suffered too much to resign ourselves to the extinction of our family line. I must demand that you hold true to the deal that you agreed to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um…” Aili trailed off unsure what to say to that at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, lady, the deal is off. We’re lucky if we get off this frozen tomb with our lives,” Din replied bluntly. He felt for the woman, he did, but the Crest was currently a mess and he didn’t even know where he would begin to attempt to fix it. It would take a miracle for him to be able to fix it before morning even if he were to head out now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Din!” Aili hissed at the Mandalorian. Sure they were kind of screwed at the moment but she didn’t think they were going to be stuck there for longer than a day or two. At least by then the New Republic pilots would be off their backs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought honoring one’s word was a part of the Mandalorian code. I guess those are just stories for children.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh shit,” Aili whispered to herself. The Frog Lady knew how to aim low and land a punch. If there was one way to get a Mandalorian moving it was definitely to question their honor and their code. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Little Green let out a coo and blinked up at Din with his big, brown eyes. Din let out an annoyed sigh before he tapped Aili on the arm for her to move so he could get up. “Stay here with the kid,” he said before he picked up his tool kit and headed for the hull breach muttering under his breath. “This was not part of the deal.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You sure you don’t need help,” Aili called out before Din was fully outside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, just stay inside and keep him out of trouble.” Din didn’t have to explicitly say </span>
  <em>
    <span>why</span>
  </em>
  <span> one of them needed to watch Little Green especially if the Frog Lady decided to take a nap or even just use the ‘fresher at any point in time. And it was too cold to bring Little Green outside for longer than a solar hour or two so that was out of the question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine but come get me if you do need help,” Aili replied before covering Little Green up with the blanket again. Might as well attempt to get the kid to sleep again so he stayed out of trouble and if she was able to catch up on some sleep as well, who was going to stop her? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Aili woke up from her quick nap, Little Green was still asleep and the Frog Lady seemed restless. She was quick to get up and place the still sleeping child on the cot, leaving it open for now. When she turned around the Frog Lady was gone along with her egg canister. “Shit…” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glanced over at the cot and figured she’d have plenty of time to go chase down the Frog Lady and convince her to get back to the ship. Maybe if she was lucky the Frog Lady had stepped out just to get some air but she knew that was wishful thinking since the woman had taken her eggs with her. Once Aili was outside she thought about letting Din know where she was going but once again, she didn’t think she’d be gone long enough for him to even notice so she took off following the Frog Lady’s footprints. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din was hard at work trying to fix what he could before night fell. He didn’t care what the Frog Lady said, once the sun was down, he was going back inside the ship and staying there until morning. He had just about finished with one section when he heard Little Green let out a coo nearby. He glanced over and saw the kid had shuffled out of the ship and was trying to get his attention. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How ‘bout you come over here and give me a hand? Make yourself useful,” Din said to Little Green before turning back to keep working on fixing the ship. He figured Aili would come around the corner soon so when Little Green made a disappointed coo, Din turned again to watch as the kid started walking off by himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey kid,” Din called, putting his tools down and getting up to follow after Little Green. “I said hey! Where are you going, come back here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He went around the front of the ship and briskly walked over to where the kid was standing. He was surprised that Aili was nowhere to be seen, she usually didn’t let Little Green out of her sight unless he was sleeping or she knew that Din had him. So when he kneeled beside the kid and saw not one but two sets of footprints leading away from the Crest, he was taken aback. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When did they go?” Even as he asked the question he knew it had been dumb, it wasn’t like the kid knew how to speak Basic. He picked Little Green up and turned on the heat tracking so he could follow the footprints into the massive ice cave they had landed near. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The further he went into the cave the more annoyed he got that Aili had just taken off without letting him know. He checked the heat tracker once more, taking a turn into a small room that was slightly warmer than the rest of the cave. When he got closer he could see the Frog Lady sitting in a hot spring pool and Aili just standing nearby.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There you are. What are you doing?” Din questioned as he stalked closer to Aili. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I saw her heading out on her own, figured I should follow her,” Aili answered with a simple shrug. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Without telling me and just leaving Little Green by himself?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili turned to look up at Din with an unimpressed look on her face. “He was napping when I left and I didn’t realize I had to tell you where I am when we’re stuck in an ice cave.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not the point.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili took in a deep breath before letting it out, “I’m sorry. Next time I will tell you where I’m going even if we’re in another cave where there’s really nowhere to go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t just leave the ship, it’s not safe out here,” Din said, struggling to keep his tone calm while also getting his point across to both Aili and the Frog Lady. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ice. Cave.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s gather these up,” Din said, putting Little Green down and starting to pick up the eggs from the water. The Frog Lady said something, pulling a few eggs towards her. “I know it’s warm but night’s coming fast and I can’t protect you out here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili let out a sigh of her own, sitting on the edge of the hot spring and pushing the eggs towards Din so he could put them in the canister. Both of them noticed Little Green reaching out for one and simultaneously reached out to stop him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope,” Aili said, picking Little Green up and putting him on her lap.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no.” Din said at the same time, wagging a finger in the kid’s face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kid let out a whine and wriggled off of Aili’s lap, wandering away from the hot spring. Aili watched him for a few seconds before she went back to helping Din pick up the eggs from the water. The quicker they picked up all of the eggs, the quicker they could get back to the ship. Little Green came running back over to them, crying out as he did. Both Din and Aili stood up and stared as the small rocks surrounding them all slowly opened up to reveal something horrifying. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are those...are those spiders?” Aili asked, eyes wide. “Oh, I hate spiders.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the small ice spiders began to scurry towards them, Din scooped Little Green up and quickly shut the egg canister before tugging it over his shoulder. The Frog Lady quickly pulled her clothes to her, climbing out of the pool and getting dressed.  There was a growl from further in the cave followed by heavy thuds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh hell no,” Aili said when she saw what had to be the mother of all spiders along with two smaller but still big spiders flanking it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go, go, go! Back to the ship!” Din shouted. Neither Aili nor the Frog Lady had to be told twice as they took off back the way they had come. Aili and Din both pulled their blasters out as they ran through the cave, shooting at any spiders that got too close for comfort. The giant one couldn’t fit in the tunnel they were in, running along the top of the cave instead and stabbing through the ice in an attempt to get them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fuck!” Aili exclaimed as she slipped on a hidden patch of slick ice. She hit the ground hard, turning onto her side to shoot the ice spiders near her before scrambling back up to her feet. Her ankle twinged and she could only hope that she hadn’t twisted it. She just needed it to support her weight long enough to reach the Crest. That was her only goal now, Din had Little Green in his arms and the Frog Lady was in front of her running as fast as she could. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They kept running, the giant spider barely missing them as it stabbed through the ice once more. Din pulled out three explosives, pressing down on all of them before tossing them at the walls in the hopes that they would cause a large enough explosion to block the spiders from following them any further. He stopped long enough for Aili to run past him and to see the giant spider get crushed by the ice before he kept running back towards the ship. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They came to a stop when the way out was blocked by too many spiders for them to simply shoot at and Din quickly handed Little Green over to Aili before he set off his flamethrower to burn the spiders away. They ran out of the cave and made it back to the Crest, the Frog Lady getting inside first. Aili handed Little Green to her before she shot at the spiders still coming their way while Din handed the woman the egg canister next. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get inside!” Din shouted to Aili who wasn’t about to argue for once. She missed seeing one of the spiders shoot webbing out at Din’s blaster hand, pressing it against the hull but she didn’t miss the way he caught the one aiming for her head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Remind me to thank you later,” Aili exclaimed as she scrambled to get inside so Din could follow.. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just get up to the cockpit!” Din shouted once again, ripping his hand away from the hull and rushing inside. The two of them kept shooting at the spiders, only stopping when they had to climb up the ladder. They were so distracted by shooting the ones trying to get inside that neither of them noticed the ones that snuck past them somehow. But they didn’t miss Little Green crying out followed by the sound of a third blaster going off. The Frog Lady had shot the spiders that had surrounded the kid and Aili made a mental note to buy the woman a gift if they ever made it to Trask. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili scooped Little Green up off the ground as Din set his flamethrower off again, burning the swarm of spiders until he was finally able to shut the cabin doors. Meanwhile Aili threw herself into the pilots chair, starting up the engines and hoping that DIn had been able to make enough repairs for them to at least make it out of the cave. She tried to ignore the spiders crawling all over the canopy as she hit all of the necessary buttons. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Strap in,” Din said to the Frog Lady before he nudged Aili out of the pilot’s chair so they could switch off. He handed Little Green over to her as he took over the take off sequence. “I’ve got limited visibility so this is gonna be a bumpy ride.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The ship struggled to ascend since it had partially embedded itself into the ground when they fell through the top layer of ice but it did eventually start to ascend. If anyone were to ask her later Aili would deny that she let out a small scream when the giant spider landed on top of the cabin forcing them back onto the ground. There wasn’t anything they could do as the spider broke through the transparisteel of the canopy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Din…” Aili trailed off, eyes wide when he looked back at her. He wished there was something he could say just to get that look off her face, actual fright for once that he couldn’t recall seeing since the siege on Nevarro. Instead he did the only thing he could do at the moment, reaching back to take one of her hands in his. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly there was blaster fire coming from outside the ship, taking down the giant spider with ease. DIn and Aili looked at each other, visible confusion on Aili’s face before they both got out of their seats. Aili handed Little Green over to the Frog Lady and she followed Din out of the cabin, shooting any lingering spiders. When they got outside of the ship they were greeted by blinding lights and repeated blaster fire taking out the remainder of the spiders crawling on the Crest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh kriff,” Aili gulped when she saw the X-wings that she had thought they wouldn’t have to deal with again. She almost wanted the ice spider to come back to life and get her instead. She knew both she and Din were probably on a New Republic wanted list but she also knew that she would be a higher priority if they had checked the security records.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We ran the tabs on the Razor Crest,” Carson shouted down to them once all of the spiders had either been taken care of or had scurried back into the cave. “You have an arrest warrant for the abduction of prisoner X-Six-Nine-Eleven as well as harboring a war criminal.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili winced knowing they meant her. There was no way that they were going to let her go now that they had seen her. She just hoped that Din wasn’t stupid enough to try to shoot them just to save her, she wouldn’t let him. No amount of beskar would save him if the New Republic came down on him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“However, onboard security records show that you two apprehended three priority culprits from the Wanted Register. Security records also show that you both put your own lives in harm’s way to try to protect that of Lieutenant Davan from the New Republic Correctional Corps. Is this true?” Carson questioned despite the fact that he already knew everything he said was true having seen the records himself. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are we under arrest?” Din questioned, putting his blaster away slowly. Aili did the same after a moment of hesitation. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Technically, you should be and she should be taken into max security,” Carson said bluntly. “But these are trying times.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What say I forgo the bounties on these three criminals and you two help me fuse my hull so we can get off this frozen rock?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What say you fix that transponder and we don’t vaporize that antique the next time we patrol the Rim?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili wasn’t sure she had ever felt such a rush of relief before, not even when they had made it to Oshriya the first time and found the girls again. But watching the two pilots leave without taking her into custody made her let out a huge sigh of relief. Din and Aili headed back inside the ship as soon as it was obvious that the X-Wings wouldn't be coming back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That was a close one," Aili said. But now she was just more confused about why the girls had left Oshriya if these two pilots had so easily left without arresting her. There was no way trying to help one soldier and taking out Din's old merc group was enough to clear her record.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Too close,” Din added, unsure if he was talking more about the ice spiders or the New Republic pilots. They climbed back up into the cockpit to assess the damage that the spider had done. It wasn’t pretty but it thankfully wasn’t beyond repair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“All right, I’m gonna repair the cockpit enough for us to limp to Trask. There’s nothing we can do about the main hull’s integrity so we’re gonna have to get cozy in the cockpit. It’s the only thing I can pressurize,” Din explained once he took stock of everything that needed to be repaired. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Definitely not what I meant when I complained about our sleeping situation by the way," Aili commented, scrunching her nose when she realized just how crowded it was going to be in the cockpit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you need to use the privy, do it now. It’s gonna be a long ride,” Din said, not without slightly shaking his head at Aili’s comment. If anything this was going to be a worse sleeping situation and the only one who would be comfortable would be Little Green who didn’t need much room to begin with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can get the repairs done faster if we work together,” Aili said before Din could try to fix everything on his own. “Do you want to work on the inside or outside?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll do the canopy if you can fix the wiring inside,” Din replied before his gaze trailed over to Little Green. “And you can keep an eye on the kid as well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Will do.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili and DIn got the repairs done as fast as they could, only fixing whatever needed to get fixed in order to get them back in the air. Little Green sat still for once, watching with a curious look in his eyes as Aili and Din made the repairs. It was a patch job but they were both hoping they could pay someone on Trask to fix the rest of the mess that was the Razor Crest now. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, repairs are all done. Let’s see if we can get this thing going once and for all,” Din said before he pulled back the lever and tried to get the Crest to ascend. It went but it was slow going and bumpier than it usually would have been, the nav system out of balance among other problems that Aili hadn’t been able to completely fix. But they made it off the planet in one piece.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wake me up if someone shoots at us. Or that door gets sucked off its rails.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Din!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m kidding. If that happened, we’d all be dead. Sweet dreams.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili shook her head in disbelief. Of course one of the few times Din tries to make a joke, it involves them dying in space.The Frog Lady and Little Green fell asleep quick and easy, probably all of their earlier adrenaline fading away all at once. Din was about to follow suit when he heard Aili let out a quiet hiss of pain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He spun his seat around to see Aili trying and failing to pretend that she hadn’t just made a noise. “You’re hurt,” he stated it more than asked, annoyed with himself that he hadn’t noticed. He had known that she had slipped earlier but she had gotten up a second later and had no problems running on it. Now he realized that had probably made it worse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s just my ankle, it’ll be fine,” Aili replied, downplaying the injury despite the fact that it was throbbing inside her shoe. She was sure that it was probably a little swollen but now that Din knew about it she didn’t want to take her boot off to check. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aili.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Din.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din let out an annoyed sigh, shaking his head at how stubborn she was being. “Will you just let me check it over?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” Aili rolled her eyes but still extended her leg out to rest her foot on Din’s beskar-covered thigh. She definitely did not let out a sharp gasp of pain when he brought her foot up to check her range of motion. Okay so it was more than a little sprained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, huh?” Din asked, tilting his helmet to the side. Aili narrowed her eyes at him when she heard the amused tone in his voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Still in better shape than the Crest.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not difficult at the moment,” Din replied before slipping her boot off so he could see just how bad it was. Thankfully it wasn’t broken, just sprained and a little bruised. There wasn’t much to do other than wrapping it and keeping it elevated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I have my leg back now?” Aili asked after Din had been quiet for a moment too long.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Din reached over for the small medpac that he kept in the cockpit and pulled out the bandage wrap along with pain meds. He handed the pills over to Aili who took them without complaint while Din wrapped her ankle up. “Good thing we have a long trip ahead of us, should be fine by the time we get to Trask.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I could’ve told you that,” Aili said once Din had finished wrapping her ankle. “And before you say anything, I’ll keep it elevated and ask for more meds if it starts to hurt too much.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din shook his head knowing that Aili would more than likely only keep half that promise but he let it slide for now. “Get some rest, it’s been a long day.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili was not about to argue about that because the day had been long, felt like it had lasted forever somehow. She propped her leg up on a portion of the control panel that wasn’t working despite her attempts to repair it and once she made sure Little Green was still asleep, she let herself fall asleep too. Din watched her for a moment longer before he slowly turned his seat back around and went to sleep as well.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter Eight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Somehow the Razor Crest makes its way to Trask meaning Aili and Din are hopefully one step closer to finding more Mandalorians. They also really need their ship to be repaired but thankfully Trask is a planet with all sorts of helpful people like the Mon Calamari dock workers or the Quarrens that can supposedly lead them to the Mandalorians...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry for taking longer than usual with an update, work and life in general have been...fun the past week. Also there have been multiple days where I got home from work and just immediately fell asleep and stayed asleep for almost 12 hours</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Somehow the Razor Crest was able to limp its way to Trask without falling apart anymore than it already was. Everyone was still sleeping off the effects of their pit stop on the ice planet, Aili with her leg still wrapped and resting on top of the control panel. Little Green was curled up on her lap. An alarm went off, only loud enough to wake them up slowly although it still made Din and Aili both wake up with quiet intakes of breath. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Looks like we made it,” Din said, relieved that they would finally be able to land and leave the cockpit. He never knew how much he took being able to set the nav and go down to the cargo hold to sleep in a small cot for granted. Maybe he’d be able to convince Aili that they had enough credits to stay at least one night at an inn, depending on how much they got charged for repairs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course they had to break atmo first. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get ready for landing,” Din said before he tried to get the landing array to engage. “Dank farrik! The landing array isn’t responding.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course it isn’t,” Aili let out a loud sigh. She wasn’t sure why she was even surprised the landing array was also messed up. Their crash landing on the ice planet had truly screwed up the Razor Crest. The fact they even made it to Trask was nothing short of a miracle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Without the guidance system, it’s gonna be a manual re-entry. It might get a little choppy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But once we’re through the atmo, we have enough fuel to slow us down, right?” Aili questioned, staring at the back of Din’s head with a hard stare. She knew they had left Tatooine with enough fuel but after their little pit stop, she had no idea if their fuel had been impacted. Din hadn’t mentioned a fuel leak when going over all of the damages they had taken. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We should. If we don’t burn to a crisp.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m going to need you to stop attempting to make jokes. None of them are funny.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That wasn’t a joke.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know which is what makes it worse.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Din started to bring the Crest down towards the planet it quickly became clear that slowing down was going to be a problem. Before he even had to ask, Aili was up and after setting Little Green back onto the seat she was moving forward to pull back on a lever that Din couldn’t since his hands were occupied. The cockpit was heating up quickly, the ship burning hot through the atmo since they couldn’t regulate their speed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Razor Crest, this is Trask flight control. Please reduce your speed to port protocol.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m trying my best here,” Din said through gritted teeth. It wasn’t like both him and Aili weren’t trying to reduce their speed. He reached over and hit another control. “Engage reverse thrusters. Brace!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Razor Crest, do you copy? You have to reduce speed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re aware,” Aili snapped, pulling back on the lever as hard as she could. It wasn’t doing much no matter how far back she pulled it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Almost there, almost there,” Din said even though they really hadn’t been able to reduce their speed in the slightest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Razor Crest, do you copy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If she doesn’t shut up…” Aili trailed off, already annoyed with the woman even though she was only doing her job. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Razor Crest, you’re coming in too fast. You have to re--” Din shut off the comlink not needing to hear another reminder that they were still going too fast. They were able to reduce their speed enough to hover above the landing platform and Aili let out a quiet sigh as she slowly eased up on her own lever. She assumed that Din would be able to handle the rest of the landing on his own. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here we go, nice and easy.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dank farrik! Din!” Aili shouted as the Crest suddenly tipped over and landed in the water. It was a good thing that the cockpit door was sealed tight unlike the cargo hold. Still Aili already knew that half of their stuff was going to be soaked now, as if having to tie it all down wasn’t bad enough. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have never, in my life, had to be fished out of port,” Aili said bluntly, looking over at Din with incredulity as the Crest was lifted out of the water. She knew it had to be a slightly normal occurrence at the port if they had a mobile loading gantry at the ready but that didn’t make it any less mortifying. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not my fault the one engine popped before I could land,” Din replied, turning his chair around to give Aili a look that she couldn’t even see. Not that it mattered since she had learned how to read his body language.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know that but it’s still embarrassing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can we just get off the ship now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well they did fish us out so we might as well go thank them,” Aili said while gesturing in the general direction of the port. The Frog Lady watched their conversation silently, waiting for them to open the cockpit door. Din and Aili stared at each other for a long moment until Aili raised a single eyebrow. Din let out a long sigh before getting up and heading for the door, Aili picking up Little Green as she went to follow him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They trailed out of the ship, Little Green in his pram and floating behind Aili and Din. The Frog Lady was at the front, looking around the dock for her husband, her egg canister securely on her shoulders. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, how can I help you?” One of the dockworkers, a Mon Calamari, asked Din as soon as he was close enough. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you fix it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fix it? Nah, but I can make it fly.” At least the dockworker was honest rather than making promises he wouldn’t be able to keep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do what you can,” Din said as he handed the Mon Calamari as many credits as they could spare for repairs. It wasn’t much at all and he made a mental note to mention their dwindling amount of credits to Aili as soon as they had a moment to themselves. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll fuel it up...if it still holds fuel,” the Mon Calamari said the last part to himself as Din and Aili walked away from him. He stared up at the Razor Crest before him wondering how he was going to fix the mess in front of him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even Aili had to admit that it was kind of cute seeing the Frog couple reunite, even cuter to see the Frog Lady’s husband marvel over the egg canister. She just hoped the Frog Lady didn’t notice the missing eggs that Little Green had swiped throughout their trip. Speaking of Little Green, he let out a sad whimper before looking up at Din and Aili with a pout on his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know you’re hungry, we’ll get you something to eat soon,” Din said to him quietly. Even he was starting to feel the stomach churning level of hunger after their long trip from Tatooine and he was sure that Aili was as well. The Frog Man stood up and went towards Din, grasping at his hand in gratitude. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re welcome. I was told you could lead me to others of my kind,” Din didn’t see the point in beating around the bush. He just hoped that the Frog Man understood Basic even if he couldn’t speak it. The Frog Man nodded his head, pointing over towards a building nearby.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The inn over there?” Aili asked, feeling relieved when the Frog Man nodded and started to lead them in that direction. She didn’t notice the woman watching them from the side of the dock but Din did. She was gone before he had the chance to take in any of her features though. When they walked into the inn the Frog Man pointed towards a Mon Calamari server, nodding his head again to let Din and Aili know that was who they would want to talk to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Din said before the Frog couple turned to leave. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have a seat over there,” the Mon Calamari server pointed at one of the free tables, heading over as soon as they all took a seat. “What can I get you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing for me,” Din said despite his still growing hunger. He could wait until they either got back to the ship or if they decided to rent a room for the night. “A bowl of chowder for both of them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll pass actually,” Aili commented before the server could so much as move to get her a bowl. She was hungry but not hungry enough to eat the chowder that was on the menu. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“These seats are scarce, buddy. Everyone seated needs to eat,” the server said bluntly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You got anything other than chowder?” Aili questioned just as bluntly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then I’m not eating anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, we can buy something else,” Din interrupted before Aili could continue to argue with the server. He slid a couple of credits towards the Mon Calamari. “Information.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Mon Calamari paused for a second before he took the credits and waited for Din to continue speaking. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you seen others that look like me?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Others with beskar have been through here,” the server answered as he poured a bowl of chowder out for the child sitting between Din and Aili. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who can take us to them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know someone who might help.” The server walked away from their table, heading for another one where a couple of Quarrens were sitting. Little Green started poking at his chowder with his spoon trying to figure out what was in it. Aili was trying to listen in on what the server was saying to the Quarrens, not paying attention to Little Green for once but she turned when she heard him let out a surprised sound. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t play with your food,” Din said, quickly stabbing the small creature that had latched itself to Little Green’s face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well maybe now he’ll feel bad about the eggs?” Aili mentioned lightly after making sure that Little Green was otherwise fine. The look he gave both of them was slightly indignant </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hmm. You seek others of your kind?” One of the Quarrens said as he sat down at their table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you seen them?” Din asked, slightly tilting his head to the side as he looked the Quarren over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aye. I can bring you to them,” the Quarren said with a chuckle that did nothing to endear him to Aili. She narrowed her eyes a little as she tilted her head to the side trying to decide how she felt about the Quarren sitting at their table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Only a few hours’ sail. It’ll cost you though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I talk to you real quick?” Aili directed the question towards Din with a hard stare before he could agree to go with the Quarren. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll be outside when you two are ready,” the Quarren said, getting up and gesturing for his buddy to follow him out of the inn. Aili watched as they left, waiting until they were outside to turn back to Din. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t trust him,” Aili said, looking straight into Din’s t-visor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why?” Din asked unsure what it had been about the Quarren that had made Aili have that immediate reaction. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, I just don’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s our best lead and if he’s not lying…” Din trailed off knowing that Aili would pick up on what he was trying to say. If there was even a small chance that the Quarren was being truthful then it would mean that their search was closer to being over. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Doesn’t mean we have to trust him.” Aili replied shortly. She knew Din wasn’t stupid despite the multiple times he had clearly been too trusting of other people. They were still in the Outer Rim and everyone was still trying to bounce back from Empire control. It made people desperate and prone to unsavory business practices. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“First sign of trouble and you can be the first to shoot,” Din offered as if that would ease all of Aili’s worries. He knew it wouldn’t but it was all he could offer at the moment. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks for the permission,” Aili said, giving Din an unamused stare before she pushed away from the table. Din watched as she walked out before he let out a long sigh and did the same, making sure that Little Green’s cradle was floating behind him. He really hoped that Aili’s instincts were wrong this time because they really needed something to go their way for once. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>*The fire in your heart that used to grow*</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>They had been out on the water for at least an hour just standing off to the side as the Quarren porters went about their business. They clearly ran a fishing vessel, probably supplied the inn with half of their menu. One of the Quarrens walked over to them nonchalantly enough that it almost didn’t make Aili suspicious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You ever see a mamacore eat? Quite a sight,” the boatman asked them lightly, gazing out at the water rather than looking at them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sure it is but we’re good,” Aili replied before Din could even think about saying anything. She didn’t know what the kriff a mamacore was but she didn’t think she wanted to find out. They weren’t exactly having the best of luck recently when it came to non-sentient aliens.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Child might take an interest. You should take a look.” The Quarren sounded a little more insistent which made Aili more suspicious than she already was. She gave the Quarren a hard stare hoping he would take the hint and move away from them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said we’re-"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey.” Din said quietly, interrupting Aili before she could finish her sentence. He slightly shook his head at her when she turned to look at him. He knew she didn't trust the Quarrens but they hadn't done anything to cause suspicion and they had more than enough time to do something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on over here, get a good view. Let the kid see.” Din led the cradle over to where the Quarrens were preparing a net of fish over a closed metal grate. Behind him Aili made a face at him before she rolled her eyes and joined them by the grate. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“All right, close enough," Din said when they were near the edge of the metal grate. Just because he was choosing to trust the boatmen for the time being didn’t mean he wanted to get too close to whatever a mamacore was. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Quarren opened the metal grate and signaled for someone else to release the fish they had in the net. Bubbles formed on the surface of the water as the mamacore quickly ate the fish it had been given. “She must be hungry. Oftentimes we’ll feed her in the early morning but we missed that ‘cause we were goin’ out of port!” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey!" Aili shouted when the Quarren hit the kid's cradle hard enough that it was hovering above the water. She let out a strangled sound when something swallowed the cradle but she didn't have time to process it when she was suddenly hit from behind as well. The hit sent her head over feet into the water as well and she heard Din hit the water right after she resurfaced. She didn’t even get the chance to attempt to climb out when the Quarrens shut the grate above them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Let us out!" She grabbed onto the grate in an attempt to keep breathing, her feet not touching anything below her. She had no idea how deep this water was and she didn't think she wanted to find out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Drown them!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Quarrens kept hitting at them with their sticks, Din lost his grip and went under water but came back up before Aili had time to panic more than she already was. Aili wasn't having any easier of a time but she also didn't have as much beskar weighing her down. That didn’t stop one of the Quarrens from managing to hit her on the head hard enough that she let go of the grate without thinking about it in order to grab her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din tried to reach out to wrap one arm around her but his fingertips barely grazed her side when one of the other Quarrens got too close to making him lose the grip he still had on the grate. He let out a loud curse when Aili moved just out of his reach within the next second. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Keep kicking your legs,” Din shouted over the sound of the multiple Quarrens still yelling orders at each other. The last thing Din needed or wanted was for Aili to go underwater like the kid still was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili dazedly treaded water for as long as she could until she slowly stopped moving and went under, taking in more water than she meant to before she remembered to keep her mouth shut. She had been trained to hold her breath for longer than most humans but even she had her limits. She never had liked the water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shit, shit, shit!” Din hissed when he saw Aili go underwater. He became more panicked when she didn’t come back up. But he knew that if he went under to try to get her back above water, neither of them would come back up. He was sure that they were screwed when suddenly there was another Mandalorian landing beside the grate shooting one of the Quarrens.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They made quick work of the Quarrens as Din continued to cough up water and struggle to stay above water. He almost missed the two others that came and helped but then the first one was reaching down as the grate finally opened again. "Take my hand," the Mandalorian with an owl painted on her helmet said. Din quickly took it and let himself be lifted out of the water. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"There's a creature, it has the Child and my...there's another down there,” Din said haltingly as he tried to catch his breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"On it.” The other two Mandalorians dove down into the water as the third one helped Din over to a place to sit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Help them, please,” Din begged, not caring that he was coming off as weak in front of other Mandalorians. He knew the kid might be okay if that creature didn’t puncture his cradle but Aili...he didn’t want to be the one to tell the other </span>
  <em>
    <span>ade</span>
  </em>
  <span> that she had died before they could see her again. He didn't know what </span>
  <em>
    <span>he </span>
  </em>
  <span>would do if she died. There were several blasts that he could see coming from underwater and Din was sure that his heart was about to beat out of his chest if no one emerged soon. He finally understood exactly why Aili had been so upset with him back on Tatooine and he made a note to apologize to her at least once more. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry brother, we’ve got this,” the one that had helped him out of the water replied before they turned to glance back at the opening. “Is the other one down there also a Mandalorian?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman took in a deep breath, posture tenser than before. The other two Mandalorians suddenly shot out from the water, the smaller one with Little Green's cradle and the other one holding Aili in their arms. She wasn't moving at all which did nothing to calm Din’s pounding heart rate. The other Mandalorians fell more than landed on the ground. The one holding the cradle ripped it open to gently hand Little Green to him while the other male Mandalorian laid Aili onto the floor of the craft. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s not breathing!” The Mandalorian started doing chest compressions and Din could feel his heart renew its attempts to climb out of his throat even as he took the kid into his hands. He looked no worse for wear, the cradle having protected him from both the water and the creature in the deep. Aili had not had such protection. The Mandalorian with the owl helmet came over to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She needs mouth-to-mouth,” she told him gently but hurried at the same time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t....the helmet,” Din said, breath hitching again. They were too far out to call for help, none that would get there in time. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other Mandalorian tilted her head to the side before she turned back to where the other two were trying to revive Aili, giving them a quick hand gesture. The smaller one took off her helmet immediately to start giving Aili mouth-to-mouth. That finally took Din’s attention off Aili’s worryingly still form. These weren’t Mandalorians. That wasn’t their armor. He was about to pull his blaster out when a watery cough pulled his attention back to Aili. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other two rolled her to her side so she could continue to cough up the water she had inhaled when she had gone underwater. She had barely finished coughing when she started to look around in a panic. “Where’s Di-Mando?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din all but rushed to his feet and over to her, Little Green still cradled in his arms. He helped her sit up, one hand cradling the back of her neck as he brought his helmet to her forehead in relief. He missed the surprise on the other Mandalorian's faces but even if he had seen it he wouldn’t have cared at the moment. He was too relieved that Aili was breathing again.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wh-what happened?” Aili coughed a little more water up, the sound rattling through Din’s own chest and making his heart skip a beat or two. He really understood Aili’s panic on Tatooine and he made another mental note to listen to her next time she said she didn’t trust somebody. Her instincts were clearly better than his own. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You, you almost died...you stopped breathing,” Din stumbled over his words, heart still trying to calm down from its earlier attempts to beat out of his chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t get rid of me that easily,” Aili tried to smile but it was barely a twitch of her lips before she winced at the way her lungs were still burning from the water she had inhaled. Her gaze drifted from Din to the three Mandalorians watching them silently. “Well fuck, I guess those Quarrens technically weren’t lying.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter Nine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Din and Aili are finally face to face with other Mandalorians but they're not what they expected at all. Who knew that even Mandalorians had such differing factions, not Din that's for sure.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I...finally updated? It's been a rough time because I let stress build which I'm aware is a bad thing but that's just how my brain works and work is certainly giving me a lot of it. About half this chapter was written over a month ago and then I just could not write, the words were there but I couldn't get them written until about a week ago. </p><p>Thank you to everyone who is still sticking with this fic and I hope I can get back on track now. I won't make a promise because that's how I cause the opposite to happen.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Aili tried to ignore the fact that she probably looked like a drowned rat as she stared at the Mandalorians standing before them. It was kind of hard not too since one of them had removed their helmet and was just casually standing in front of them. Granted the woman had removed it to give Aili mouth-to-mouth so she couldn’t be too suspicious. She was sure that Din was more than suspicious for the both of them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So who’s going to talk first?” Aili asked, staring at the Mandalorian with an owl painted on her helmet since she seemed to be the one in charge. “Because if we’re going to fight, I’d rather we get it over with sooner rather than later. I did just almost die, kind of makes one a little tired.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That depends, is he going to remove his hand from his blaster anytime soon?” The owl Mandalorian questioned, nodding her head towards Din who did have his hand exactly where she said it was. Aili nudged at his arm with her elbow even though she knew that wouldn’t make him remove his hand from his blaster.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili let out a sigh wanting to get this over with already. “Look, we’ve been looking for other Mandalorians and we already ran into someone who just got Mando armor from Jawas. Can you just tell us where you stole your armor from?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This armor has been in my family for three generations,” the leader said as she removed her own helmet. The remaining Mandalorian did the same and it took all of Aili’s willpower to not wince as they did so. One Mandalorian removing their helmet was one thing but having three of them standing in front of Din? She was surprised he hadn’t shot any of them yet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do not cover your face. You are not Mandalorian,” Din finally spoke, voice hard as he did so.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other male Mandalorian let out a sound somewhere between a scoff and an annoyed groan, “He’s one of them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dank farrik,” the smaller female exclaimed, rolling her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“One of what exactly?” Aili questioned, brow furrowed in confusion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze, I was born on Mandalore and fought in the Purge. I am the last of my line and you are a Child of the Watch,” the red-haired woman said as if that would explain everything. If anything, it just made both Aili and Din more confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Watch?” Din questioned shortly. He didn’t like the way that this Bo-Katan had spoken.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Children of the Watch are a cult of religious zealots that broke away from Mandalorian society. Their goal was to re-establish the ancient way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili let out a short huff of laughter, looking at Din in disbelief hoping that he would refute what Bo-Katan was saying. “What?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There is only one way. The Way of the Mandalore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din didn’t give any of them the chance to say anything else, turning around and gesturing for Aili to get up. She gave him a disgruntled look but she still stood up and let him hand Little Green to her so he could pick her up. She really would’ve preferred if they could just take the boat back to shore but Din clearly wanted the last word and a dramatic exit. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They landed back at the dock and stood there silently as they watched the boat they had just left burst into flames. They could both see the three Mandalorians leaving the destruction behind them. Aili opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself when she realized that she had no idea what to say for once. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wasn’t sure what to say following what Bo-Katan had said about the Covert. Wasn’t sure what it meant for Din or the girls who all saw the Mandalorians as people who had saved them from something worse. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din started walking away from the dock without saying a word. Aili stayed by the water for half a second longer before she turned to catch up with Din. They had things that they needed to discuss even if Din wanted to avoid it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know we need to talk about it at some point, right?” Aili said, once she was in step with Din, hoping that he wouldn’t completely shut down and ignore her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“About what?” DIn asked despite knowing exactly what Aili was talking about. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes when that was all Din had to say. She reached out with one hand, grabbing Din’s arm to stop him from continuing to walk away from the dock. “She said the Covert is part of a cult. That </span>
  <em>
    <span>you’re</span>
  </em>
  <span> part of a cult and that the girls are part of one too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s wrong.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And if she’s not?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She is,” Din replied harshly, pulling his arm out of Aili’s grasp but staying still rather than walking away again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Din</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Aili reached out again, placing her hand on Din’s shoulder this time. She felt him stiffen up but he didn't move to remove her hand this time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you want me to say?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, anything?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"There's nothing to say.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili let out a deep sigh, looking down at Little Green and making a face at him. She didn't know how much he was picking up from her and Din but she hoped he didn't take after Din's avoidance issues. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s just get back and see if the ship’s ready,” Aili finally said. Din clearly wasn’t going to answer her any time soon and she wasn’t going to waste more time waiting for one. They started walking back towards the dock where they had “landed” the Razor Crest. A tense silence had fallen over them, one that Aili didn’t want to break but she had to. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re being followed,” Aili said quietly enough that only Din could hear her. She didn’t want whoever was tailing them to know that she had clocked them yet. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Neither of them had the chance to say anything else when someone shouted, the sound echoing throughout the empty port. “Hey!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A Quarren stepped out from behind a stack of crates looking more than a little pissed as he stared them down. “You...you killed my brother.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve killed a lot of people, your brother isn’t one of them,” Aili replied shortly. They technically hadn’t killed any of the Quarrens on this planet. That had all been Bo-Katan and her little team.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re not interested in your lies.” Several more Quarrens flanked them, grabbing anything lying around to use as weapons. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let us pass,” DIn said, not in the mood to fight anyone let alone Quarrens that were following the wrong lead like a lost loth cat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The lead Quarren let out a dark chuckle. “I don’t think you understand. You killed my brother and now? Now I’m going to kill your little pet and maybe make an example of your whore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili tilted her head to the side, lips pursed in growing anger. The Quarrens had absolutely no idea what they were in for if they so much as made a move towards her or Little Green. Part of her actually wanted them to try it just to see who reacted first, her or Din. Before anyone could attempt to make a move, three familiar Mandalorians landed beside Din and Aili.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He didn’t kill your brother. I did,” Bo-Katan said, stepping forward and staring down the lead Quarren. There was a long moment of silence before it was broken by blaster fire. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Quarrens didn’t stand a chance. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can we at least buy you two a drink?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>*The fire in your heart that used to grow*</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The port was mostly empty by the time they made it back to the inn again. It had cleared out, only a few tables still occupied. They headed for one of the tables in the back, away from everyone while still being a decent vantage point. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Soup?” The server asked, trying and failing to discreetly look their group up and down. Din and AIli both shook their heads, neither of them hungry thanks to how their day had quickly derailed and left them both unsure they could keep any food down. Bo-Katan declined as well but the other two ordered a soup and a drink for themselves. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Trask is a black market port,” Bo-Katan started to explain once they had been served and the server had walked away leaving them with privacy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No shit,” Aili replied. “Why else would those Quarrans try to kill us?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bo-Katan let out a small huff , shaking her head in almost amusement. “No one said they were smart. But they are staging weapons that have been bought and sold with the plunders of our planet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re seizing those weapons and using them to retake our homeworld. Once we’ve done that we’ll seat a new Mand’alor on the throne.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me guess, you’ve already chosen yourself as the new leader,” Aili stated, head tilted as she stared at Bo-Katan, trying to figure the other woman out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It doesn’t matter,” Din said before Bo-Katan could respond to AIli. “That planet is cursed, anyone who goes there dies.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“DIdn’t the Empire completely bomb the planet's surface?” Aili asked, wondering why anyone would even want to rule a husk of a planet. It would be easier to scope out a new planet and start from scratch again. The amount of work it would take to rebuild that planet...she didn;t think it would be worth it but then again, she wasn’t a Mandalorian and it wasn’t her homeplanet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t believe everything you hear.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I’m not talking about hearsay. I know exactly what they did to your homeplanet.” Aili looked at each of the new Mandalorians in the eye. “I don’t know what you hope to accomplish trying to take that planet back but it won’t be pretty.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look,” Bo-Katan stated, leaving no room for argument in her voice. “Our enemies want to separate us but Mandalorians are stronger together.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That may be but that’s not part of our plans. We’ve been quested with returning this child to the Jedi.” Din gestured towards where Little Green was sitting on AIli’s lap. He was just staring at everyone sitting at the table with wide eyes. Bo-Katan looked down at the child and tried to work out a plan that would work in her favor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you know of the Jedi?” She asked, thinking back to her own encounters with them. There was a lot to say about them but there would never be enough time in the universe to even begin to explain it all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bare minimum,” Aili added. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Might be better to leave it that way,” the other female Mandalorian scoffed before turning back to her soup. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If we wanted your opinion, we’d ask for it,” Aili replied with a strained grin that looked more like a cringe. The younger girl opened her mouth to reply, an angry furrow to her brow but she was stopped by Bo-Katan who shook her head. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Excuse Koska, she has...strong opinions when it comes to Jedi.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“By Creed, would you help us find them?” Din asked, hoping that Bo-Katan didn’t share the same opinions as Koska. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can lead you to one of their kind but first, we need your help on our mission.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And what kind of mission would that be?” Aili questioned, staring down Bo-Katan with an unamused look on her face. She wasn’t surprised that the apparent leader wouldn’t give them the information for free. She also hadn’t missed the look that she had exchanged with the other two.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Follow us,” Bo-Katan said as she stood up from the table. The other two followed suit without complaint despite the fact that neither of them had finished their food and drink. Din turned to glance at Aili, silently asking what she wanted to do. After a quick moment, she shrugged and got up as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Might as well see what they have planned, but first,” Aili turned to look at Koska. “Do you have a problem?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Koska had not been subtle in the fact that she had kept staring at Din and Aili. It had gotten on AIli’s last nerve and if they agreed to help them on their mission then she needed an answer first.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m just confused about something,” Koska said bluntly, staring back at Aili with what looked like boredom in her gaze. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He almost shot us for taking our helmets off but he’s okay with his </span>
  <em>
    <span>riduur</span>
  </em>
  <span> being a non-Mandalorian?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“His...what?” Aili’s brow furrowed as she tried to recall if she had ever heard that word. She knew Din called her </span>
  <em>
    <span>cyar’ika</span>
  </em>
  <span> and he had told her what it meant just to watch her get shy for once, sometimes he even called her </span>
  <em>
    <span>mesh’la</span>
  </em>
  <span> to get the same response but she had never heard </span>
  <em>
    <span>riduur</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Beside her Din had gone stiff, heart pounding from either embarrassment or anger. He couldn’t tell but he felt heat rush to his face either way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Koska, enough,” Bo-Katan said before the younger woman could keep asking questions in an attempt to get a reaction from the Child of the Watch. They still needed their help taking down the cruiser. She gestured towards the door before striding out of the inn knowing that the others would follow after her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They followed her outside and down to where they had landed the Crest. Aili barely held back from questioning out loud how they knew which ship was theirs. It was a busy port but she was going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the shape it was in had given it away. Once they were all perched on top of the Crest for the best view of another dock. Bo-Katan pointed out a large ship across the way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You see that Imperial Gozanti freighter? It’s being loaded with weapons as we speak,” Bo-Katan explained. “According to the port’s manifest, it’s scheduled to depart at first light.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So we stow away?” Din asked, still not sure about this mission. They needed leads on where to find at least one Jedi but hitting an Imperial freighter could paint targets on their backs again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve been hitting ‘em pretty hard. They scan for life forms as a precaution before pushing back,” Koska explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you wanna do this, you’re gonna need the element of surprise,” Din said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bo-Katan turned slightly to glance at him before turning back to stare out at the ship in the distance. “Exactly. The freighter will maintain trawling speed while inside the shipping lanes. We’ll jet up when they're cruising in the atmosphere, the tower won’t allow them to climb until they’ve left the port’s airspace.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Assuming they won’t break the port rules when they realize we’ve boarded?” Aili questioned. She knew how much Imperials followed their own rules when they needed to, they only followed planetary laws when it suited them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They haven’t done so yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Troopers?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A squad at most.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And they couldn’t hit the side of a bantha,” Axe added, sharing an amused look with Koska. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili let out a wry laugh. “Yeah well last time we thought there was only a squad, we got pinned down by Death troopers and a full transport.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you made it out,” Bo-Katan pointed out. “That’s more than most could manage.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din looked down at Aili, hoping she could tell what he was thinking about the whole idea. She stared up into his t-visor for a moment before glancing down at Little Green. She let out a sigh after a few seconds. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why the fuck not? I always enjoy screwing over Imps."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're not coming, you almost drowned today," Din stated bluntly. As soon as he finished speaking he winced knowing that he probably should have waited until they didn't have company.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We need all the help we can get," Bo-Katan said before Aili could say anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s already four of us,” Din argued, making sure to keep his tone as neutral as possible. He didn’t think he was doing a very good job though when he caught the look AIli threw his way again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve been around the parsec once or twice, I know a Dragon when I see one.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili narrowed her eyes, her head tilting to the side slightly. “And just how do you know that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was around the wrong people when I was younger.” Bo-Katan shrugged her shoulders as if that would settle any other questions coming from Aili. She was wrong, of course.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She’s still not coming,” Din said again, gritting his teeth now. It wasn’t just because AIli had nearly died earlier, though that wasn’t helping either. He knew how much of a risk it would be to attack an Imperial freighter. They didn’t need to be on anyone’s radar again, not when they had barely survived their encounter with New Republic pilots. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bo-Katan let out a small sigh. “Meet us at the dock at first light, either of one or both of you.” They didn’t stay long enough to allow either Din or Aili to reply.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili turned to glare up at DIn with enough heat to melt all of his shiny armor. “We’re going to be talking about this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing to talk about.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili opted to not say anything else. If he thought that he could make her stay behind while he hit and Imp freighter, then he had another thing coming his way. But for now she chose to follow him back towards the inn so they could get some decent rest for once. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>*Why are there only ashes remaining?*</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Give me one good reason why I can’t go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That doesn’t involve drowning,” Aili added before Din could even start his argument. Drowning was a bantha shit reason and she’d be damned if she let him get away with it. From behind his helmet Din stared at Aili with thinly veiled annoyance. “We can argue about this all night, up to you, but either way I’m going.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I won’t fly you up to the freighter.” Din knew it was another weak argument when there were three other Mandalorians that could help her onto the ship. He doubted any of them would listen to him if he tried to order them around. All it would take was their de-facto leader ordering them to give Aili a lift. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili let out a soft sigh, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she thanked whatever higher power in the galaxy that Little Green had gone to sleep without a fuss for once. It made having this conversation easier even if getting an answer out of Din was like pulling teeth. “What’s this really about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You drowned.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And you let yourself get eaten by a Krayt Dragon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not the same thing,” Din replied indignantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>AIli narrowed her eyes at the idiot standing in front of her. Din saying something a little stupid usually wasn’t a surprise to her but this was a new level even for him. “Please, explain how it’s different.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The difference is that you stopped breathing and I couldn’t do anything.” There was something in DIn’s voice that made Aili pause and for once she wished she was the one wearing the beskar helmet so that she wouldn’t have to struggle to keep her expression neutral. As it was though, she had to pause and think about what she was going to say next. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I couldn’t do anything when the Krayt Dragon swallowed you. If we had been alone, would you have taken off your helmet?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.” Din spoke with such suddenness that it actually surprised Aili. She had hoped that would be his answer but somehow she wasn’t actually prepared for him to actually say it out loud. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So is this because you don’t know if you trust Bo-Katan and her crew? Because I know it seems like everytime we work with someone they backstab us but, Din, that won’t happen this time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t know that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t wrong. Neither of them knew for certain that they could trust Bo-Katan or the two others with her. But Aili also knew that if they had wanted to get rid of them, they wouldn’t have revealed their difference of helmet rules, would have just let her die and killed Din. Keeping them alive just to use them and kill them later would be too much work.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are they or are they not Mandalorians?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din hesitated before replying to her question despite it being an obvious answer.“...Yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If we can’t trust other Mandalorians then who else can we trust?” Aili asked. “We already have to worry about Imps and the New Republic isn’t any better, we need to be able to trust someone other than ourselves.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have our allies.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Peli would never leave Tatooine and Cara won’t want that target on her back again. And Karga? As big a game he talks, it would take less than a solar day for someone like me to break him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is your argument?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili let a small smirk cross her face before she replied. “Either we come to an agreement or I sneak onto the freighter before you even wake up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You heard them earlier, they scan for life forms before they even start the ascent.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Every ship has their weak spots and a Gozanti has more than most,” Aili explained without mentioning exactly where said weak spots were. She wasn’t going to give away all of her secrets just in case Din decided to continue being overprotective. She had told him multiple times that she wasn’t a child and she could handle herself, drowning earlier notwithstanding. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din stared at her silently for a long moment before he let out a barely perceptible sigh. “Fine. You can come but if it starts to look dicey, we fall back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine with me so long as we both agree that it’s too much heat. I don’t want you calling for a retreat if there’s two squads instead of one.” Not that Aili really thought Din would pull something like that but she figured she would say it just in case he got any ideas. “Now, can we please get some sleep?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Aili didn’t wait for Din to respond to her before she walked over to the bed in the middle of the room. Little Green was thankfully still asleep despite the fact that both Din and Aili had been talking louder than they had meant to. She got onto the bed and let out a sigh when she felt how comfortable it was. Once again she made a note to herself to talk to Din about getting a better bed on the Crest because the cot really wasn’t the best. Little Green snuggled into her side while still sleeping, something that he had perfected in the past months. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Din took a few more minutes to get ready to sleep, removing the majority of his armor; the helmet staying on like usual. Even with all of the lights in the room off there was still light coming in from the window. He got onto the bed and hoped that everything went according to plan the following day. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Din?” Aili called out to him, keeping her voice hushed to not disturb the child beside her. “Everything is going to be fine tomorrow so can you please stop thinking so loudly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go to sleep.” Din wasn’t about to have another disagreement with Aili, especially since it was becoming clear that he was always the one who lost. For her part Aili let out a quiet laugh and Din’s response. The two of them were quiet after that, letting their day finally catch up with them as they fell asleep.</span>
</p>
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